LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT  OF" 
THE   FAMILY  OF   REV..   DR.-  GEORGE   MOOAR 

Class 


tod  Templars'  Home  for  Orphans,-^ 


In  1869  a  capacious  and  elegant  structure  was  erected  near  Vallejo,  in  Solan* 
County,  California,  and  in  October,  1870,  it  was  dedicated  and  opened  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  and  entitled  the  "Good  Templars'  Home  for 
Orphans."  Its  title  is  not  meant  to  convey  any  idea  of  exclusiveness  as  to  the 
class  admitted  to  its  sheltering  offices.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  open  to  all;  the 
only  passport  required  at  its  portals  is  to  be  a  homeless  orphan  child.  Children 
under  fourteen  years  of  age  are  received  and  cared  for,  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty  orphaned  children  are  now  being  cared  for  within  its  walls.  This  kindly 
office  has  been  extended  to  nearly  one  thousand  homeless  children  in  the  past. 
The  buildings  are  sightly,  capacious,  and  pleasantly  located.  The  Home  is 
under  the  general  management  of  a  Board  of  Trustees  and  a  Board  of  Lady 
Managers — the  former  comprising  nine  gentlemen  of  the  Order,  who  have 
charge  of  the  buildings,  grounds  (20  acres),  and  financial  matters,  while  tha 
Board  of  Lady  Managers  is  composed  of  eight  prominent  lady  members  of  the 
Order,  selected  from  various  portions  of  the  State,  and  has  charge  of  the 
internal  and  domestic  relations  of  the  institution.  Within  the  Home  graded 
schools  under  the  "  Public  School  System"  of  the  State,  are  taught  by  three 
competent  teachers.  Upwards  of  $150,000  has  been  expended  in  the  erection, 
care  and  maintenance  of  this  institution.  The  Home  is  supported  and  sus- 
tained by  voluntary  contributions,  and  those  benevolently  disposed  are  re- 
quested to  favor  it  by  contributions  in  its  behalf. 


TEMPLARS'  BAND  of  HOPE. 


This  is  the  juvenile  branch  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Good  TemplarsT, 
under  the  care  and  patronage  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  California,  and  has  a 
separate  ritual,  pledge  and  badge. 

The  organization  has  a  legal  and  well-defined  connection  with  the  Grand 
Lodge,  in  which  body  the  Band  of  Hope  is  entitled  to  representation. 

Sunday  Schools  or  juvenile  organizations  desiring  to  adopt  the  Band  of  Hope 
as  a  temperance  work  among  the  children,  will  be  furnished  rituals  and  badges- 
free  of  charge  in  any  needed  quantity. 

For  rituals,  badges,  or  any  information  pertaining  to  juvenile  temperance 
work,  address 

MRS.  M.  E.  RICHARDSON,  Gen'l  Sup't, 

OaJslsi:n.cL, 
ALAMEDA  CO.,  CALIFORNIA, 


ol 

fil 

0  Z] 
fij  ^ 
"  O 

rj  O 

3u 

8i 


fi 


THE  PEOPLE 


VERSUS 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 


THE  GREAT  SPEECHES  OF 


JOHN  B.  FINCH. 


EDITED  BY 


Hon.  SAMUEL  D.  HASTINGS, 

Ex- Treasurer  State  of  Wisconsin. 


THIRD    EDITION. 


"Once  to  every  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment  to  decide, 

In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  for  the  good  or  evil  side; 

Some  great  cause,  God's  new  Messiah,  offering  each  the  bloom  or  blight, 

Parts  the  goats  upon  the  left  hand,  and  the  sheep  upon  the  right, 

And  the  choice  goes  by  forej^isSRfet^axkness  nnd  that  light" 


CHICAGO  : 
LITEIIATUBE  COM.  R.  W.  G.  LODGE,  I.  O.  of  G.  T. 

Room  8,  No.  87  Washington  St. 


Copyright  1883  by  Frank  J.  Sibley,  Publishing  Agent,  Literature 
Committee  B.  W.  G.  Lodge,  I.  O.  G.  T. 


R    McCABE  ft  CO.,  SHNIEDEWERD  A  LKJ*. 

PRINTERS,  M.ECrROTYl>nS, 

146  Clark  Street  200-202  Clark  Street. 

CHICAGO.  CHICAGO 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION 

LECTURES. 

I.  A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE,  I 

II.  WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  is  PRESSED  82 

HI.  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  75 

TV.  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE  101 

V.  THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED  138 

"VL  THE  QUESTIONS  ASKED  BY  THE  JURY  ANSWERED  172 

CONSTITUTIONAL  AMENDMENTS. 

KANSAS  -         -     203 

IOWA       -  203 

LECTURES  ON  SPECIAL  SUBJECTS. 

I.     ARE  LIQUOR-DEALERS  ENTITLED  TO  INDEMNITY. 

BY  MASON      -  -  205 

H     LOYALTY  TO  LAW.     BY  HORTON  232 

TTT      THE  PRACTICABILITY  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  PROVED 

BY  ITS  SUCCESS.     BY  FINCH          -         -  254 


122 


INTRODUCTION. 


No  apology  need  be  offered  for  presenting  this 
Yolume  to  the  public. 

The  present  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  period 
in  the  history  of  the  temperance  movement.  Evi- 
dence that  the  labors  of  the  past  half  century 
have  not  been  in  vain,  was  never  more  abundant. 
This  may  be  regarded  as  the  era  of  constitutional 
prohibition. 

In  the  year  1850  Michigan  incorporated  into  her 
state  constitution  a  provision  prohibiting  the  grant- 
ing of  licenses  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors; 
and  in  the  year  1851  Ohio  placed  a  similar  provi- 
sion in  her  constitution.  It  was  then  thought  that 
this  would  be  all  that  would  be  needed.  Subsequent 
experience  has  shown  this  to  be  an  error.  Nothing 
short  of  absolute  prohibition  will  answer  the  require- 
ments of  the  case. 


IV.  INTRODUCTION. 

In  1856,  Wm.  H.  Armstrong,  then  Grand  Worthy 
Patriarch  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  of  Eastern 
New  York,  advocated  the  incorporation  into  the  con- 
stitution of  that  state,  of  a  provision  prohibiting  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  in  1857  his  views 
were  endorsed  by  the  Grand  Division  of  the  Order. 
The  matter  was  under  discussion  for  i?wo  years, 
and  articles  upon  the  subject  appeared  in  the  Inde- 
pendent Examiner,  the  organ  of  the  Sons  of  Tem- 
perance, the  New  York  Tribune,  the  New  York 
Witness  and  the  New  York  Times. 

The  views  of  Mr.  Armstrong  seem  to  have  at- 
tracted but  little  attention,  and  in  a  short  time  were 
entirely  lost  sight  of,  and  the  present  movement  was 
started  by  persons  who  had  never  heard  of  the  pre- 
vious one,  and  was  in  no  way  connected  with  it. 

So  far  as  now  known,  the  present  mode  of  securing 
prohibition  through  constitutional  amendment,  was 
first  suggested  by  B.  F.  Parker,  Grand  Secretary  of 
the  Grand  Lodge  I.  O.  G.  T.,  of  Wisconsin,  in  his 
annual  report  for  1876.  Little  or  no  attention  was 
paid  to  it  at  that  time.  He  repeated  the  suggestion 
in  his  report  for  1877,  when  the  matter  was  taken 
up  by  the  Grand  Lodge,  with  a  view  of  asking  the 
Legislature  to  submit  the  question  of  a  prohibi- 
tory law  to  a  popular  vote.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  when  the 
form  of  the  petition  to  the  Legislature  was  under 
consideration,  it  was  decided  to  ask  for  a  con- 
stitutional amendment.  The  form  was  agreed  upon, 


INTRODUCTION.  V. 

% 

and  petitions  containing  about  fifteen  thousand  names 
were  presented  to  the  Legislature,  asking  for  the 
submission  of  such  an  amendment.  This  is  believed 
to  be  the  first  request  made  to  the  Legislature  of 
-any  state  in  the  Union  for  such  action. 

So  far  as  now  known,  the  first  article  which 
appeared  in  the  newspaper  press,  in  advocacy  of  the 
measure,  outside  of  Wisconsin,  where  the  movement 
originated,  was  an  open  letter  addressed  to  Ex-Gov. 
B.  Gratz  Brown,  of  Missouri,  which  appeared  in  the 
National  Prohibitionist,  St.  Louis,  in  May,  1878. 

This  was  followed  in  August,  of  the  same  year,  by 
an  article  in  reply  to  sundry  objections  that  had  been 
urged  by  various  correspondents  of  the  Prohibition- 
ist, to  the  views  expressed  in  the  letter  to  Ex-Gov. 
Brown. 

On  the  27th  of  August,  a  letter  was  written  to  a 
prominent  officer  of  the  Grand  Lodge  I.  O.  G.  T.,  of 
Iowa,  urging  him  to  bring^  the  matter  before  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  that  state,  with  a  yiew  of  inducing 
that  body  to  endorse  the  measure. 

The  Grand  Lodge,  however,  for  reasons  doubtless 
satisfactory  to  its  members,  failed  to  take  the  desired 
action. 

On  the  13th  of  September,  1878,  an  article  was  sent 
to  the  Maine  Temperance  Journal,  then  published  at 
Portland,  urging  the  friends  of  temperance  in  that 
state  to  inaugurate  a  movement  to  secure  a  prohibi- 
tory constitutional  amendment,  but  the  matter  does 


.VL  INTBODUCTION. 

not  seem  to  have  attracted  any  very  marked  atten- 
tion, until  the  measure  was  endorsed  by  the  Bepub- 
lican  State  Convention  of  1882. 

In  the  October  (1878)  number  of  the  National 
Temperance  Advocate,  an  article  in  favor  of  the 
movement  was  published  in  which  the  provisions  of 
the  constitutions  of  all  the  states  of  the  Union, 
relative  to  the  manner  in  which  the  several  constitu- 
tions could  be  amended,  were  set  forth. 

In  October  of  the  same  year,  at  the  request  of 
Hon.  John  B.  Finch,  an  article  on  the  subject  was 
sent  to  the  Investigator,  a  temperance  paper  pub- 
lished in  Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.  All  the  articles 
alluded  to  were  penned  by  the  undersigned. 

The  rapidity  with  which  this  movement  has  pro- 
gressed since  1878,  is  without  a  parallel.  It  would 
require  many  large  volumes  to  record  what  has  been 
said  and  done  since  that  time.  Already  a  prohibi- 
tory amendment  has  been  incorporated  in  the  consti- 
tutions of  the  states  of  *  Kansas  and  Iowa;  the  first 
resolution  for  the  submission  of  similar  amendments 
has  passed  the  Legislatures  of  Indiana,  Connecticut 
and  Oregon,  and  the  action  taken  by  the  dominant 
party  in  the  states  of  Maine,  Massachusetts  and 
Michigan,  render  it  almost  certain  that  the  question 
will  soon  be  submitted  to  a  popular  vote  in  these 
states. 

In  a  score  of  other  states,  the  measure  is  under 
discussion,  and  bids  fair  soon  to  be  the  great  ques- 
tion for  settlement  in  every  state  in  the  Union. 


INTRODUCTION.  Vli. 

In  bringing  this  question  to  the  front,  and  in 
creating  the  advanced  public  sentiment  that  has 
secured  the  adoption  of  the  amendment  in  Kansas 
and  Iowa,  no  one  has  rendered  greater  service  and 
done  more  to  secure  these  results,  than  the  Hon. 
John  B.  Finch,  the  author  of  the  speeches  contained 
in  this  volume. 

From  the  many  speeches  delivered  by  Mr.  Finch 
during  the  past  few  years,  the  six  herewith  presented 
have  been  selected,  not  that  they  are  in  any  way 
superior  to  many  other  speeches  made  by  him,  but 
because  they  are  so  arranged  as  to  present  in  a  con- 
cise form,  a  complete  and  comprehensive  statement 
of  the  great  issue  now  presented  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States. 

"The  People  versus  the  Liquor  Traffic,"  is  the 
issue  upon  which  a  verdict  must  soon  be  rendered. 
Nothing  has  been  spoken  or  published  that  will  do 
more  to  aid  the  people  in  reaching  correct  conclu- 
sions, than  these  speeches  of  Mr.  Finch. 

Wherever  he  has  spoken,  the  universal  testi- 
mony has  been,  that  in  the  ability  with  which  he 
arranges  his  arguments  and  illustrations,  and  in  the 
power  which  his  fine  personal  appearance  and  elo- 
quent oratory  give  him  over  his  hearers,  he  has  no 
superior  upon  the  temperance  platform. 

Special  thanks  are  due,  and  are  most  cordially 
rendered  to  A.  D.  Williston,  E.  W.  Welch  and  Sam- 
uel B.  Wright  for  their  excellent  stenographic  reports 
of  these  speeches. 


Vlll.  INTRODUCTION. 

In  placing  these  speeches  in  a  shape  where  they 
will  be  within  reach  of  the  people  generally,  I  feel 
that  I  am  doing  much  for  the  success  of  prohibi- 
tory constitutional  amendments. 

SAML.  D.  HASTINGS. 
Madison,  Wis.  Nov.  7,  1882. 


The  People  versus  The  Liquor  Traffic. 


i. 

A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE. 


AN  ADDRESS   DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE   NORTHWESTERN 

CONVOCATION  OF  TEMPERANCE  WORKERS  AT  LAKE 

BLUFF,  ILLINOIS,  AUGUST  27,  1881. 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Some  months  since  I 
received  a  letter  from  our  mutual  friend,  Dr.  Jut- 
kins,  in  which  he  requested  me  to  deliver  an  address 
at  this  Convocation.  I  replied  that  I  should  attend 
the  Convocation,  but  preferred  to  remain  silent,  as 
a  learner  at  the  feet  of-  older  men.  Another  letter 
gave  me  to  understand  that  no  excuse  would  be 
accepted,  therefore  an  address  was  prepared  for  this 
occasion;  but,  since  coming  upon  the  grounds,  I 
have  heard  much  which  leads  me  to  think  it  better 
to  leave  the  manuscript  and  talk  to  you  as  one 
worker  to  other  workers,  on  the  present  aspects  of 
the  reform. 


2  THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

I  shall  talk  to  you  plainly,  positively;  and  if  I 
bore  you,  charge  it  to  Dr.  Jutkins,  for  he  alone  is 
responsible  for  my  appearing  before  you. 

In  discussing  the  question  of  temperance,  one 
fact  more  than  all  others  I  would  impress  on  your 
minds  at  the  commencement ;  that  is,  that  this  ques- 
tion must  be  settled  in  this  country.  It  can  not  be 
laughed  down,  sneered  down,  jeered  down  or  black- 
guarded down,  and  there  is  not  money  enough  in 
the  blood-stained  coffers  of  the  liquor  power  of  this 
nation  to  buy  enough  votes  to  long  prevent  the 
entire  defeat  of  the  liquor  oligarchy  at  the^  hands 
of  this  people. 

This  statement  may  be  considered  over-sanguine, 
and  yet,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  man  or  woman  who  insists  that  this  great  move- 
ment is  a  mere  temporary  excitement,  must  be  blind. 
From  the  day  the  temperance  movement  started  in 
this  country  it  has  never  gone  backwards. 

A  few  months  since,  curiosity  prompted  me  to  write 
to  State  officers  in  different  states  whose  Legislatures 
were  in  session  last  winter,  asking  them  for  the 
record  of  legislative  sessions  ten  years  ago,  and  also 
the  record  of  the  sessions  during  the  last  winter  — 
and  I  found  this  to  be  true, — that,  of  all  the  Legis- 
latures of  ten  years  ago,  there  was  not  one  which 
discussed  the  question  of  the  prohibition  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  while  the  Legislatures  of  the  past 
winter,  without  a  single  exception,  devoted  a  large 
part  of  their  time  to  the  discussion  of  this  question. 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  3- 

The  St.  'Louis  Globe  Democrat — and,  by  the  way, 
the  Globe  Democrat  is  not  noted  as  a  very  strong 
temperance  paper,  the  history  of  both  its  former 
and  present  managers  proving  that  they  sympathize 
largely  with  the  whisky  and  beer  traffic — in  the 
month  of  April  last,  contained  an  editorial  nearly  a 
column  in  length,  in  which  it  was  asserted  that  the 
temperance  question  was  the  religio-politico  ^ques- 
tion of  this  age,  and  the  editor  went  on  to  say  that 
the  man  who  thought  this  movement  was  an  agita- 
tion by  a  few  idle  visionaries  or  old  women,  was 
dreaming  on  the  crater  of  a  social  volcano.  Then, 
after  explaining  and  giving  fully  his  reasons  for 
such  conclusions,  the  editor  said  that  the  Legisla- 
ture of  the  State  of  Missouri  would  no  more  dare, 
at  its  next  session,  to  refuse  to  submit  the  question 
of  the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
alcoholic  liquors,  to  the  voters  of  that  state,  than  it 
would  dare  commit  any  other  kind  of  political 
suicide. 

In  my  state,  the  frontier  state  of  Nebraska,  ten 
years  ago,  a  member  of  the  Legislature  who  did  not 
drink  liquor  was  an  exception;  to-day  a  member 
who  does  is  an  exception.  In  that  early  day  the 
people  elected  a  Governor  who  was  a  known 
drunkard,  and,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  he  was  a 
drunkard,  re-elected  him,  and  afterwards  impeached 
him  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  committed 
while  he  was  drunk.  To-day  a  man  could  not  b& 
elected  in  that  state,  on  any  party  ticket,  if  it  was 
known  he  was  a  drunkard. 


4  THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

The  Legislature  met  last  winter,  and  during  its 
entire  session  I  saw  no  member  under  the  influence 
of  liquor.  I  understood  there  was  a  member  drunk, 
but  his  friends  said  he  was  suffering  with  brain 
fever,  and  kept  him  out  of  sight  until  he  became 
sober. 

Ten  years  ago,  those  who  called  on  the 
ladies  in  Omaha,  who  kept  open  house  on  New 
Year's,  found  wine  on  nearly  every  table;  for  the 
past  three  years  (and  I  have  means  of  knowing  the 
truth  of  what  I  affirm)  not  a  family  in  Omaha,  nor 
in  the  city  of  Lincoln,  has  placed  wine  before  its 
guests  on  that  day.  Even  our  German  friends  have, 
to  a  great  extent,  banished  it,  in  obedience  to  the 
demands  of  educated  public  opinion. 

As  I  look  over  the  rapid  advance  that  has  been, 
and  is  being  made  in  this  country,  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  temperance  question  will  come  up  in  every 
spring  election,  every  town  election,  every  city  elec- 
tion, every  county  election,  every  state  election  and 
every  national  election  until  it  is  settled ;  each  year 
it  will  come  with  louder  knocks,  and  each  year  with 
more  urgent  demands.  If  you  have  investigated 
this  statement  and  believe  it  to  be  true,  write  along- 
side of  the  fact  another  one: 

"A  question  is  never  settled  until  it  is  settled 
right." 

Put  the  two  together:  it  must  be  settled,  it  must 
be  settled  right,  and  you  have  the  basis  of  the 
present  agitation. 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  5 

My  friends,  whether  you  believe  in  the  drinking 
of  liquor  or  not,  the  issues  in  this  case  must  be 
investigated,  and  you  must  make  up  your  minds  to 
meet  them  and  settle  them  like  thinking  men  and 
women.  Compromise  upon  a  question  of  principle 
is  always  a  victory  for  the  devil;  if  you  know  you 
are  right ;  if  your  conscience,  your  reason,  tells  you 
you  are  right,  and  then  for  the  sake  of  temporary 
peace,  you  concede  to  the  side  that  you  know  to  be 
wrong,  you  find  sooner  or  later,  that  you  have 
involved  yourself  in  greater  trouble,  and  probably 
in  a  worse  fight,  that  will  not  be  settled  until  you 
retrace  the  wrong  steps  that  you  have  taken.  Tell 
one  lie  and  you  will  find  it  necessary  to  tell  others 
to  make  the  first  appear  consistent 

All  history  sustains  this  view. 

After  the  American  colonies  were  settled,  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  insisted  that  the  right 
was  vested  in  the  King,  by  and  with  the  consent  of 
Parliament,  to  levy  taxes  upon  the  people  of  the  col- 
onies; the  colonists  at  once  demurred,  and  insisted 
that  if  Parliament,  or  the  King,  by  and  with  consent 
of  Parliament,  had  the  right  to  levy  taxes,  then  the 
colonies  must  be  represented  in  the  Parliament 
which  gave  the  consent.  The  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  levied  heavy  taxes  on  the  colonies.  The 
result  was  inevitable.  They  were  seeking  to  estab- 
lish a  false  principle  of  government.  To  resist 
such  tyrannical  action,  Clubs  of  Liberty  were  organ- 
ized throughout  the  colonies.  The  English  Premier 


6  THE  PEOPLE  YEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC, 

saw  the  storm  his  action  had  raised,  and  wished  to 
allay  it  if  possible;  the  result  was  the  repeal  of  all 
the  heavy  taxes  and  the  concession  that  the  taxes 
levied  should  only  be  upon  commerce,  and  should 
l3e  applied  to  the  use  of  the  colony  where  they  were 
levied.  By  this  act,  Parliament  conceded  every- 
thing but  the  principle  —  a  small  tax  levied  by 
Parliament  to  be  applied  to  the  use  of  the  colony 
where  the  tax  was  laid.  But  the  agitation  did  not 
cease. 

A  leading  American  was  asked  in  Boston,  "Would 
you  plunge  the  colonies  in  war  for  a  few  pence  on  a 
pound  of  tea?"  The  answer  was,  "It  is  not  the 
amount  of  the  tax,  but  the  accursed  principle  upon 
which  Parliament  bases  the  claim  of  right  to 
levy  ANY  tax,  that  we  are  fighting."  It  was  fought 
out  on  that  line,  and  King  George  lost  the  brightest 
jewel  in  his  crown. 

This  principle  has  also  been  demonstrated  at  a 
much  later  date.  The  Eepresentatives  of  the  United 
States,  assembled  for  the  first  time  as  a  congress  of 
an  independent  nation,  declared:  "We  hold  these 
truths  to  be  self-evident:  that  all  men  are  created 
equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are 
life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Jeffer- 
son, in  his  original  draft  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, emphasized  the  words  "  all  men,"  by 
this  charge:  "He  (the  king)  has  waged  cruel  war 
against  human  nature  itself,  violating  its  most 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  7 

sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty,  in  the  persons  of  a 
distant  people  who  never  offended  him,  captivating 
and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in  another  hemis- 
phere, or  to  incur  miserable  death  in  their  transpor- 
tation hither.  This  piratical  warfare,  the  oppro- 
brium of  infidel  powers,  is  the  warfare  of  the  Chris- 
tian king  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to  open  a 
market  where  men  should  be  bought  and  sold,  he 
has  prostituted  his  negative,  for  suppressing  every 
legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  restrain  this  exe- 
crable commerce.  And  that  this  assemblage  of  hor- 
rors might  want  no  fact  of  distinguished  dye,  he  is 
now  exciting  those  very  people  to  rise  in  arms 
among  us,  and  to  purchase  that  liberty  of  which  he 
has  deprived  them,  by  murdering  the  people  upon 
whom  he  also  obtruded  them,  thus  paying  off  for- 
mer crimes  committed  against  the  liberties  of  one 
people  with  the  crimes  which  he  urges  them  to  com- 
mit against  the  lives  of  another." 

Slavery  existed  in  colonies:  the  representatives 
feared  dissent ;  the  clause  which  Jefferson  had  writ- 
ten was  stricken  out,  and  the  general  term,  "all 
men,"  was  left  undefined  and  unemphasized.  The 
long  years*of  mental  and  physical  struggle  for  free- 
dom which  followed,  extended  the  mental  horizon  of 
American  statesmen,  and  they  began  to  perceive 
that  "all  men"  might  possibly  include  Africans, 
and  thus  the  question  which  statesmen  thought  they 
had  settled  by  the  compromise  made  at  the  time  of 
adopting  the  Declaration,  forced  itself,  into  the  con- 


8     THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

vention  which  met  to  amend  the  defective  Articles- 
of  Confederation.  There,  the  wrong  of  slavery  was 
not  denied,  but  the  feelings  of  the  delegates  were 
expressed  by  one  who  said:  "  We  have  a  wolf  by  the 
ears  and  we  dare  not  hold  on  nor  let  go!"  To  do 
right  seemed  to  endanger  a  national  form  of  gov- 
ernment and  another  compromise  followed.  The 
word  slavery  was  so  obnoxious  to  men  just  emerg- 
ing from  a  long  and  bloody  war  for  their  own  liber- 
ties, that  they  would  not  allow  it  to  appear  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  They  allowed  it 
to  exist  in  the  States  as  a  thing  to  be  passed  by 
rather  than  noticed,  and,  although  slavery  has  gone 
from  the  land,  it  has  never  been  necessary  to  change 
a  word  in  the  original  draft.  "Regulate  and 
restrain,"  was  the  policy  adopted. 

Madison,  speaking  of  this  compromise  half  apolo- 
getically, said:  "It  were  doubtless  to  be  wished 
that  the  power  of  prohibiting  the  importation  of 
slaves  had  not  been  postponed  until  the  year  1808, 
or  rather,  that  it  had  been  suffered  to  have  immedi- 
ate operation,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  account,  either 
for  this  restriction  on  the  general  government,  or 
for  the  manner  in  which  the  whole  *  clause  is 
expressed.  It  ought  to  be  considered  a  great  point 
gained  in  favor  of  humanity  that  a  period  of  twenty 
years  may  terminate  forever  within  these  States  a 
traffic  which  has  so  long  and  so  loudly  upbraided 
the  barbarism  of  modern  policy;  that  within  that 
period  it  will  receive  a  considerable  discouragement 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE. 

from  the  general  government,  and  may  be  totally 
abolished  by  the  concurrence  of  the  few  States 
which  continue  the  unnatural  traffic." 

The  delegates  labored  under  the  delusion  that 
their  action  had  placed  the  question  where  it  would 
settle  itself,  —  but  prostituted  principle  woke  from 
the  slumber  of  exhaustion  to  hear  the  ringing 
words  of  John  Kandolph,  like  a  fire-bell  in  the  night : 

"  I  know  there  are  gentlemen,  not  only  from  the 
Northern  but  from  the  Southern  States,  who  think 
this  unhappy  question — for  such  it  is — of  Negro 
slavery,  which  the  Constitution  has  vainly  tried  to 
blink  by  not  using  the  term,  should  never  be  brought 
to  public  notice,  more  especially  that  of  Congress,, 
and  most  especially  here.  Sir,  with  every  due  respect 
to  the  gentlemen  who  think  so,  1  differ  from  them 
toto  ccelo.  Sir,  it  is  a  thing  which  cannot  be  hid ;  it 
is  not  a  dry-rot  which  you  can  cover  with  a  carpet 
until  the  house  tumbles  about  your  ears;  you  might 
as  well  try  to  hide  a  volcano  in  full  operation ;  it  can 
not  be  hid ;  it  is  a  cancer  in  your  face,  and  must  be 
treated  secundum  artem;  it  must  not  be  tampered 
with  by  quacks  who  never  saw  the  disease  or  the 
patient." 

Brave,  prophetic  words.  The  volcano  of  an 
awakening  public  conscience  could  not,  indeed,  be 
hid.  Compromise  followed  compromise — the  old 
ulcer  on  the  body  politic  grew  deeper,  the  moral 
pulse  of  the  nation  grew  feebler,  but  God  was  not 
asleep;  the  cry  of  the  bondman  had  reached  his  ear. 


10         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  stench  of  human  blood  had  offended  his  nostril. 
To-day,  along  the  mountains,  plains  and  valleys  of 
the  sunny  Southland,  the  cold  sod  is  heavy  over  the 
forms  of  the  grandest,  bravest  men  of  the  nation — 
boys  who  wore  the  blue,  boys  who  wore  the  gray— 
whose  blood  was  poured  out  as  a  libation  upon  the 
nation's  altar  to  atone  for  an  accursed  compromise, 
which  might,  at  one  time,  have  been  stricken  out 
with  a  pen.  In  the  reddest  of  American  blood  it  is 
written,  A  QUESTION  is  NEVER  SETTLED  UNTIL  IT  is 

SETTLED  RIGHT. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  if  we  have  together  reached 
this  conclusion  we  are  ready  to  continue  the  investi- 
gation. This  is  not  a  personal  matter  between  the 
drunkard-maker  and  temperance  advocate.  Whether 
the  drunkard-maker  is  a  scoundrel  or  a  gentleman 
weighs  not  an  atom  in  settling  the  merits  of  the 
case.  For  the  purposes  of  this  investigation,  it  mat- 
ters not  whether  he  is  a  devil  or  an  angel  of  light 
If  he  is  an  angel  he  cannot  make  a  devilish  princi- 
ple a  good  one ;  if  he  is  a  devil  he  cannot  make  a 
God-given  principle  a  bad  one. 

The  question  to  be  considered  is,  the  cause  of,  and 
remedy  for,  the  evils  of  intemperance.  If  the  whole 
brood  of  drunkard-makers  could  be  drowned  in 
Lake  Michigan  to-morrow,  another  brood  would 
spring  up  in  three  months,  equally  as  bad  as  the  one 
destroyed,  unless  we  could  destroy  the  accursed 
system  that  produced  them — sear  the  neck  of  the 
license  hydra  with  public  opinion  in  the  hands  of 
prohibition  lolaua 


A    STATEMENT    OF   THE    CASE  11 

Some  cry,  "Attack  the  liquor- seller!"  When 
asked  why,  they  answer,  "  He  is  a  mean  man." 
What  if  he  is?  If  the  man  is  mean,  he  is  all  the 
better  representative  of  his  business.  I  prefer  a 
man  should  be  a  good  representative  of  the  trade 
he  is  carrying  on.  The  American  people  must 
enter  upon  the  investigation  of  this  question,  deter- 
mined to  examine  fully  all  of  its  phases,  to  weigh 
carefully  the  arguments  on  both  sides,  and  investi- 
gate the  alleged  facts,  produced  by  advocates  who 
represent  the  different  sides,  and  then,  on  the  weight 
of  evidence  presented,  base  their  verdict.  Anything 
less  would  not  be  reasonable,  anything  less  would  not 
be  honest.  In  trying  such  issues,  blackguardism, 
sneers  and  reckless  statements  are  out  of  place.  I 
am  often  impressed,  when  listening  to  those  who  rep- 
resent the  other  side,  that  a  blackguard  is  as  much 
out  of  place  in  the  field  of  honest,  manly  discussion 
as  a  monkey  would  be  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  Lord. 
A  man  engaged  in  either  intellectual  or  physical 
combat  never  throws  mud  when  he  has  rocks  to  use, 
and  when  individuals  stoop  to  use  the  mud  of  epi- 
thets in  a  discussion  of  this  kind,  it  is  prima  jade 
evidence  that  they  have  nothing  else  to  use.  The 
copious  use  of  epithets  like  "  fanatic,"  "  zealot," 
"fool,"  and  "visionary,"  is  not  argument,  but  rather 
an  indication  of  a  cerebral  vacuum  in  the  head  of 
the  talker.  When  you  see  a  man  standing  on  the 
corner,  sticking  his  thumb  under  his  coat  and  calling 
temperance  people  vile  names,  just  remember  it  does 


12         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

not  require  a  high  order  of  brains  to  abuse  people. 
A  parrot  could  do  thai  "If  you  have  no  case, 
abuse  the  opposing  attorney,"  is  the  motto  of  petti- 
foggers the  world  over. 

Temperance  advocates  have  no  use  for  the  style  of 
argument  used  by  the  drunkard-makers  and  their 
apologists.  Temperance  men  believe  they  are  advo- 
cating correct  principles  and  that  the  facts  and  argu- 
ments upon  which  they  base  their  claims  are  so 
nearly  self-evident,  that  a  presentation  in  a  fair,  can- 
did way  will  convince  thinking,  intelligent  people 
that  prohibition  is  the  only  remedy  for  the  drink 
curse.  They  believe  the  people  are  intelligent  and 
fully  capable  of  passing  judgment  upon  any  ques- 
tion of  governmental  policy;  that  the  people  are 
the  court  of  last  resort  and  that  all  questions  must 
be  determined  by  them.  In  accordance  with  this 
idea  they  go  to  the  people  as  to  a  jury,  presenting 
an  indictment  against  the  drink-traffic  and  ask  that 
the  traffic  be  tried  and  a  verdict  rendered  in  accord- 
ance with  the  evidence.  The  object  and  purpose  of 
the  work  they  have  never  concealed.  From  the  day 
the  temperance  reform  started  in  this  country,  they 
have  declared  from  every  platform  their  purpose, 
and  that  purpose  is  to  bury  the  liquor  business  of 
this  country  in  the  same  way  the  old  Welsh  woman 
said  she  would  bury  the  devil,  "  with  face  down  so 
that  should  he  ever  come  to  life,  the  more  he  dug 
the  deeper  he  would  get." 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  such  is  the  purpose  of  the 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  13 

temperance  men  of  this  country,  a  calm,  deliberate, 
dispassionate  purpose,  formed  after  a  full  investiga- 
tion of  all  the  facts  in  the  case.  You  say  at  once: 
"  This  involves  social  changes,  legal  changes,  changes 
in  the  very  structure  of  this  government,"  and  I 
I  say,  "Yes."  You  ask,  "On  what  grounds  do  you 
base  the  demands  for  this  change?"  Let  me  write 
the  answer;  dip  my  finger  in  the  blood  of  some 
man  killed  by  beer  or  whisky  and  write  it  on  this 
wall. 

1st.  From  the  day  the  liquor-traffic  was  intro- 
duced into  this  country  from  the  despotisms  of 
Europe,  until  the  present,  it  has  existed  as  a  bitter, 
blighting,  damning  curse  on  everything  decent,  vir- 
tuous and  holy.  Its  history  proves  it  the  enemy  of 
law,  order,  morality,  Christianity  and  civilization. 

2d.  The  American  dram-shop  is  the  cause  of 
more  than  six-sevenths  of  the  pauperism  and  four- 
fifths  of  the  crime  in  the  nation.  It  is  the  hot-bed 
where  outlaws  germinate;  the  cradle  where  vice  is 
rocked. 

3d.  Liquor  drinking  makes  the  slums  of  great 
cities  and  the  horrible  condition  of  mankind  in  the 
slums. 

The  temperance  leaders  stand  before  the  people 
of  this  country,  present  the  indictment  and  say  to 
the  liquor  interest:  "Come  into  the  court  of  the 
people  and  plead."  It  does  not  matter  whether  the 
temperance  advocate  is  a  scoundrel  or  a  gentleman, 
Mr.  Beer-seller.  The  only  question  the  liquor  inter- 


14        THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

est  of  this  country  must  meet  is  the  issue  presented 
in  this  indictment.  If  the  charges  are  false,  the 
temperance  men  of  this  country  are  liars,  they  are 
slanderers,  they  are  maligners,  and  the  people  ought 
to  put  them  on  a  rail,  ride  them  out  of  the  towns 
and  dump  them  in  the  lake.  If  the  charges  are 
true,  no  man  can  justify  the  license  of  the  damnable 
traffic.  It  is  simply  a  question  of  fact.  Do  the 
temperance  men  lie  or  do  they  tell  the  truth? 
They  have  always  proclaimed  and  pressed  the  charges. 
They  have  stood  upon  the  public  platforms  and  said: 
"Gentlemen,  come,  before  the  people  and  meet  us 
on  these  issues."  How  have  the  liquor  men  met 
the  charges? 

Suppose  a  young  man  in  Lake  Bluff  should  steal 
a  horse  and  start  to  go  to  Wisconsin.  He  is  arrested 
this  side  of  the  Wisconsin  line,  brought  back  and 
put  in  the  county  jail.  The  Grand  Jury  meet  and 
formulate  an  indictment  charging  him  with  felony. 
The  young  man  is  brought  into  court  to  make  his 
plea.  The  people  prefer  he  should  be  acquitted.  I 
believe  it  is  a  fact  that  the  American  people  always 
sympathize  with  the  criminal ;  in  other  words,  they 
prefer  that  the  man  should  be  proved  innocent, 
rather  than  that  he  should  be  proved  guilty.  You 
see  a  man  led  into  a  court  room,  charged  with  the 
crime  of  murder,  and  there  is  not  a  man  who  does 
not  hope  that  the  charge  is  not  true.  The  boy  is 
brought  in,  the  clerk  reads  the  indictment,  and  asks 
the  simple  question :  "  Are  you  guilty  or  not  guilty  ?" 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  15 

It  is  a  question  of  fact  between  him  and  the  people ; 
he  is  expected  to  do  one  of  two  things,  either  plead 
guilty  and  accept  the  punishment  of  outraged  law, 
or  not  guilty,  thereby  challenging  the  allegations  of 
the  people,  and  forcing  them  to  produce  the  proof. 

The  indictment  is  read,  he  is  asked  for  his  plea, 
"guilty  or  not  guilty,"  and  instead  of  making  it  he 
draws  back,  begins  to  whimper,  and  says:  "If  I  had 
not  stolen  the  horse  some  other  man  would ! " 

The  court  would  say:  "That  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  question ;  it  is  a  question  involving  your 
liberty,  a  simple  question  of  fact;  are  you  guilty  or 
not  guilty?" 

The  prisoner  continues  to  whimper,  and  says: 
"People  have  always  stolen  horses,  and  they  will 
always  steal  horses,  and  it  is  not  fair  to  pitch  into 
me." 

No  court  would  accept  such  a  plea.  I  can 
imagine  the  indignation  of  the  court  when  for  the 
third  time  he  asks:  "Are  you  guilty  or  not  guilty?" 

The  prisoner,  drawing  back  among  a  crowd  of 
roughs,  answers:  "And  if  I  am  guilty,  what  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it  ?  All  prohibitory  laws  for  the 
suppression  of  stealing  have  failed.  Persons  steal 
in  every  section  of  this  land.  You  cannot  stop  it 
Prohibition  is  a  failure.  Let  me  tell  you  what  I 
will  do.  If  you  will  let  me  go  and  continue  steal- 
ing, I  will  give  you  half  the  money  I  received  for  the 
horse." 

If  the  judge,  in  the  face  of  such  a  threat,  should 


16         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

accept  the  bribe  and  release  the  prisoner,  how  quickly 
the  public  would  move  to  impeach  and  depose  him 
for  corrupt  practices. 

The  temperance  leaders  draw  an  indictment,  on 
which  the  liquor  business  is  brought  into  the  court 
of  the  people.  They  insist  and  demand  that  the 
traffic  shall  plead ;  not  sneak  into  its  dens  of  infamy 
not  crouch  with  the  bludgeon  in  the  hands  of 
drunken  assassins,  not  bulldoze  and  intimidate  law- 
abiding  citizens;  but,  like  any  other  criminal,  come 
up  and  meet  the  indictment  before  the  people. 
Bring  the  traffic  into  court.  Bead  the  indictment. 
Is  it  true  or  false  ? 

The  liquor  dealer  commences  to  whimper,  and 
says : 

k%  These  temperance  people  are  all  hypocrites." 

"Come,  now,  brace  up  and  be  a  man;  true  or 
false?" 

"Well,"  he  says,  "if  I  don't  sell,  some  other  fel- 
lows will." 

"What  has  that  to  do  with  the  question  of  guilt? 
The  question  is  simply,  Is  your  business  guilty? 
That  is  all.  If  it  is  not  guilty  the  business  will  go 
on  all  the  stronger;  if  it  is  guilty,  it  must  die. 
Guilty  or  not  guilty?" 

"The  people  have  always  drank;  they  always  will 
drink,  and  it  is  not  fair  to  pitch  into  me." 

"Guilty  or  not  guilty,  Mr.  Liquor-seller?  That 
is  all." 

He  draws  back  and  says: 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE,  17 

"  Well,  if  I  am,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about 
it?  If  you  say  I  shall  not  sell,  I  will  sell  anyway; 
you  never  have  stopped  it,  and  never  can  stop  it. 
When  you  say  I  shall  not  do  it,  I  will  put  up  the  flag 
of  rebellion  at  the  head  of  a  beer  keg,  and  defy  you 
to  stop  me.  Let  me  tell  you  what  I  will  do:  If  you 
will  let  me  sell,  even  though  I  may  be  guilty  of  all 
the  crime  charged,  I  will  give  you  $500  out  of  the 
money  I  get  as  the  results  of  the  business." 

And  the  people  of  Chicago  and  the  people  of  this 
country  reach  out  their  hands  and  say: 

"Pass  over  a  part  of  the  illegitimate  proceeds; 
divide  the  blood- money  with  us,  and  we  will  stand 
behind  you  and  swear  you  are  respectable." 

See  again  how  liquor  dealers  meet  the  issues. 
They  dare  not  meet  them  like  honest  men. 

In  Kansas  I  had  the  pleasure  of  going  over  the 
State  to  help  in  the  Prohibition  fight.  I  went  down 
into  the  Bourbon  part  of  the  State.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem  to  some  of  you,  my  political  proclivities 
are  that  way.  I  did  not  stand  on  a  platform  during 
that  campaign  that  I  did  not  ask  the  liquor  men  to 
come  to  the  platform  and  discuss  the  question.  I 
said:  "  If  temperance  men  are  wrong,  get  your  ablest 
men  and  bring  them  here  upon  the  platform,  prove 
us  wrong,  and  you  have  beaten  us."  Did  they  come  ? 
Never. 

I  was  returning  to  my  home  in  Lincoln,  from  Atch- 
ison,  Kansas,  when  a  gentleman  from  Chicago  by 
the  name  of  Hass  came  along  and  sat  down  beside 
me.  After  shaking  hands,  he  said: 


18         THE  PEOPLE  VEKSUS  THE  LIQUOB  TBAFFIO. 

"  Veil,  Finch,  vat  are  you  down  here  for?" 

I  said  I  had  been  doing  a  little  work. 

"Vatkindof  vork?" 

"  Persuading  the  people  to  pass  the  Prohibition 
amendment." 

"You  dink  you  bass  him?" 

"No;  I  do  not  think  so." 

"  Vat  you  mean  ?  " 

"  I  know  it  will  be  passed,"  said  I. 

He  looked  at  me  and  said:  "  Veil,  Finch,  you  vas 
a  pretty  smart  fellow  about  some  dings,  but  you  vas 
a  dam  vool  about  that." 

After  he  had  finished  laughing  at  his  own  wit,  I 
said  to  him:  "  Well,  now,  Mr.  Hass,  you  think  I  am 
a  friend  of  yours,  and  I  think  I  am,  in  some  respects ; 
let  me  advise  you  as  a  friend,  if  you  have  got  any 
money  now,  put  it  where  you  can  keep  it;  for  in  less 
than  twenty  years  the  temperance  men  will  have  abol- 
ished the  liquor  traffic  in  every  State  north  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line." 

He  laughed  and  said:  "You  can't  bass  dot  ament- 
ment." 

I  said:  "Why?" 

He  answered:  "  We  haf  cot  $150,000  to  put  in  dis 
fight." 

I  said:  "Bless  the  Lord! " 

"  Vot  you  mean  ?  "  he  asked. 

"I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  make  a  square  fight" 

"  Vat  you  mean  by  a  square  fight  ?  " 

"  You  say  we  are  fools  and  what  we  are  talking 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE,  19 

about  is  nonsense.  Do  you  think  the  people  of  this 
State  are  fools?" 

He  said  "No." 

"You  would  be  perfectly  willing  to  let  them  try  a 
case  in  which  you  had  money  involved?" 

"Yes." 

"If  we  are  wrong,  why  do  you  not  hire  the  ablest 
lawyers  and  ministers,  the  best  and  purest  women  in 
this  land,  put  them  on  the  platform  with  us,  and  let 
them  convince  the  people  that  we  are  wrong,  let  them 
show  the  people  we  are  fools?  Do  this,  and  you 
have  dug  a  grave  for  this  temperance  nonsense  so 
deep  that  a  grave-robber  would  not  waste  time  in 
hunting  for  it.  Send  a  man  to  meet  me  to-morrow 
night,  and  send  a  good  one." 

"No,"  he  said,  in  language  I  will  not  imitate;  "we 
know  a  better  way  than  that.  The  people  up  in  the 
frontier  counties  are  starving.  We  have  money 
enough  to  divide  up  and  put  $10,000  in  every  fron- 
tier county  in  Kansas.  Do  you  think  you  can  talk 
against  such  arguments?  " 

He  said  that,  ladies  and  gentlemen — the  old  crim- 
inal. 

His  only  defense  upon  the  trial  of  the  case  before 
the  jury  of  the  people  was  his  power  to  corrupt  men 
and  buy  them  when  they  were  starving.  He  did  not 
dare  to  meet  the  ^issue.  He  did  not  dare  to  make  an 
honest  fight ;  but  simply  boasted  of  his  power  to  cor- 
rupt and  debase  men. 

Last  spring  a  convention  of   liquor  dealers  was 


20         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOK  TRAFFIC. 

called  to  meet  at  Lincoln,  Neb.  They  met,  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  formulate  a  plan  of 
organization.  During  the  time  the  committee  was 
deliberating,  a  member  moved  that  the  organization 
be  called  the  Liquor  Dealers'  Alliance  of  Nebraska. 
One  liquor  dealer  said,  "It  would  kill  it  dead  to 
€all  it  that." 

The  matter  was  referred  to  the  committee,  and 
the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  calling  it  the 
"Merchants'  and  Traders'  Union,"- —ashamed  to 
own  its  true  character,  or,  rather,  wishing  at  least 
that  the  child  should  come  out  with  decent  clothes, 
although  its  name  would  make  it  illegitimate.  So, 
at  the  present  time  in  Nebraska  we  have  no  liquor 
association  —  we  have  the  Merchants'  and  Traders' 
Union. 

At  the  opening  of  the  struggle  for  a  prohibitory 
law,  last  year,  S.  H.  King,  D.  S.,  of  Lincoln,  formu- 
lated an  indictment  and  published  a  circular 
addressed  to  the  President  of  this  "Merchants'  and 
Traders'  Union,"  in  which  he  said: 

"  The  temperance  leaders  wish  to  try  this  case 
fairly  before  the  people.  They  will  hire  the  halls, 
pay  every  expense  connected  with  the  meetings, 
except  the  expense  of  your  speakers,  if  you  will 
send  men  to  try  this  question  before  the  people  with 
our  speakers." 

The  temperance  men  waited  three  weeks,  and  the 
drunkard-makers  made  no  reply.  Then  Mr.  King 
offered  to  pay  the  expenses  of  their  speakers  (all 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  21 

but  their  whisky  bills)  if  they  would  discuss  the 
question. 

I  met  the  liquor  leader  some  weeks  after  this, 
and  shook  hands  with  him.  (I  always  shake  hands 
with  these  men  and  always  speak  to  them ;  it  is  fun 
to  see  them  wiggle.)  I  said,  as  he  tried  to  go  by: 

"  When  are  you  going  to  accept  that  offer  of  Dr. 
King's;  when  are  you  going  to  send  a  man  to  discuss 
prohibition  before  the  people?" 

Turning  around  to  me,  with  a  bitter  oath,  he  said : 
"You  don't  think  I'm  a  fool,  do  you?  I  would 
rather  give  $20,000  to  prevent  you  from  submitting 
the  q-uestion  to  the  people  than  to  try  to  beat  you  if 
you  succeed  in  submitting  it." 

They  came  to  Lincoln,  put  their  money  into  the 
banks,  and  they  found  men  in  the  Legislature  who 
were  dishonest  enough  to  accept  it.  Drunkard- 
making  had  twenty-eight  votes;  Prohibition,  forty- 
nine;  Prohibition  needed  fifty-one.  That  is  the 
way,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  criminal  traffic  meets 
the  issues;  by  corrupting  men,  buying  men,  and 
destroying  the  very  foundation  of  the  American 
system  of  government — the  purity  of  the  individual 
voter. 

Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  liquor  dealer  taking  the 
platform  to  defend  his  business  on  its  merits? 

Two  years  ago  the  editor  of  the  Omaha  Herald, 
a  genial,  courteous  gentleman,  came  to  Lincoln  to 
talk  in  favor  of  high  license.  His  talk  occupied  the 
first  two  hours,  and  I  talked  a  half  an  hour  in  reply. 
In  opening  his  argument  he  said: 


22         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

"Ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Nebraska,  I  do  not 
come  to  deny  that  intemperance  is  the  curse  of 
the  nation,  that  it  is  sapping  and  undermining  our 
social,  civil  and  political  institutions.  All  this  is 
admitted."  That  was  his  starting-point,  and  he  went 
on  to  say  that  the  liquor  business  was  bad,  all  bad, 
not  a  good  thing  in  it,  but  it  could  not  be  prohibited ; 
people  would  sell,  and  it  was  better  to  restrain,  and 
get  a  little  money  out  of  it. 

"  You  have  not  stopped  men  from  stealing,  so  you 
had  better  license  them  to  steal  if  they  will  divide 
the  proceeds  with  the  city,"  is  the  logic  of  his  plea 
boiled  down. 

A  few  weeks  later,  Judge  Isaac  Haskell,  in  the 
Academy  of  Music,  in  Omaha,  took  the  license  side, 
and  I  the  prohibition  side  of  the  question.  He 
said  at  the  beginning,  "I  despise  drunkards;  I  hate 
drunkenness!  It  is  the  curse  of  this  country."  He 
went  on  to  say:  "People  always  have  drank;  they 
always  will  drink.  You  cannot  prohibit  the  sale, 
you  had  better  license  and  regulate  it  and  get  some 
money  out  of  it."  "  The  Church  cannot  exterminate 
the  devil,  so  it  had  better  go  in  partnership  with 
him,  and  divide  up  the  souls  of  men,"  is  the  argument. 

In  Wisconsin  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Woos- 
ter,  an  attorney,  was  once  discussing  the  license 
question.  He  said,  "I  believe  just  as  honestly  as 
my  friend  Finch  does,  that  alcoholic  liquor  is  a 
damnable  beverage."  Then  he  went  on  to  say  that 
people  always  had  drank  and  always  would  drink 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  23 

I 

During  my  reply  I  said,  if  alcoholic  liquor  is  a 
damnable  beverage,  then  it  follows  that  the  traffic 
in  a  damnable  beverage  must  be  a  damnable  traffic, 
and  a  man  who  will  advocate  a  damnable  traffic  in  a 
damnable  beverage  must  be  —  and  there  I  left  the 
audience  to  infer  what  the  conclusion  must  be,  and 
the  man  said  I  was  not  fair. 

Whenever  you  force  the  beer  advocates  in  this 
country  to  first  principles  they  always  disavow  their 
connection  with  the  fruits  of  the  traffic,  and  preface 
their  statement  with,  "I  am  a  temperance  man." 
Why  do  they  not  say,  "I  am  a  beer  man;  I  would 
rather  have  a  boy  who  would  get  drunk ;  I  would 
rather  have  a  wife  who  would  get  drunk!"  Why  do 
they  not  stand  by  their  business  instead  of  sneaking 
and  crawling. 

Comparisons  bring  out  colors.  Compare  the 
traffic  with  other  trades.  The  liquor  men  will 
admit  that  a  minister  is  as  good  as  a  saloon-keeper 
as  long  as  he  behaves  himself  as  well.  Then  write 
with  the  propositions  already  stated,  the  principle  of 
political  economy  taught  us  when  we  were  boys  at 
school:  that  there  are  but  three  ways  of  getting 
money  or  wealth  —  make  it,  have  it  donated  to  you, 
steal  it.  Some  would  say  find  it,  but  you  cannot 
base  a  principle  of  political  economy  on  chance. 
Change  the  form  and  it  is  in  this  shape:  without 
making  it  or  having  it  donated  to  him,  any  man  who 
obtains  wealth  is  a  thief.  In  honest  business  every 
man  is  bound  to  render  a  fair  bargain.  Although 


24         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

"     • 

it  may  be  unpopular  doctrine  in  this  country,  I  say 
I  have  no  sympathy  for  the  accursed  thing  called 
sharpness,  which  justifies  lying  to  a  man  in  a  trade 
and  then  laughs  about  the  trick ;  it  is  no  better  than 
stealing.  I  would  respect  a  man  who  would  steal 
twenty -five  cents  from  my  pocket-book,  as  much  as 
I  would  a  man  who  would  lie  to  me  in  a  trade  and 
get  it  in  that  way.  When  I  have  taken  a  man's 
word  it  hurts  my  faith  in  humanity  to  find  my  trust 
betrayed. 

You  hire  a  minister,  you  pay  him  money  (that  is, 
I  suppose  you  do.)  The  minister  is  hired  just  as 
any  other  man  is  hired,  and  you  expect  he  will  give 
*you  value  received  for  the  money  that  he  gets.  I 
hire  a  minister,  or  help  hire  one  on  the  same  basis 
that  I  hire  a  man  to  dig  a  ditch.  I  expect  he  will 
do  good  work,  if  he  does  not,  I  will  turn  him  off 
and  get  a  new  one  as  soon  as  I  can.  But  when  he 
is  hired  I  am  as  much  bound,  in  honor,  to  pay  him 
what  I  agree  to  pay  him  as  I  am  bound  to  pay  a 
man  who  undertakes  any  other  labor  for  me.  You 
hire  a  minister  and  pay  him  if  you  are  honest;  a 
man  who  will  cheat  a  minister  is  as  big  a  knave  as 
a  man  who  will  cheat  a  merchant.  I  suppose  you 
always  pay  your  ministers.  People  do  not  in  my 
country  —  unless  it  be  in  promises  to  pay. 

I  call  the  minister  up  here  and  say  to  him,  "You 
get  money;  now,  sir,  tell  the  people  what  you  give 
them  for  the  money  they  pay  you ;  show  them  what 
you  give  them.  Mr.  Minister,  they  do  not  pay  you 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  25 

alone  for  preaching,  although  it  is  pleasant  and 
instructive  to  listen.  They  do  not  pay  you  to  run 
revivals,  though  it  is  a  good  thing  to  take  the  minds 
of  the  people  away  from  this  world  to  the  future  — 
and  let  me  say  here  by  way  of  digression,  it  has 
been  my  experience  as  an  attorney,  that  you  can 
collect  debts  after  a  revival  that  were  not  worth  ten 
cents  on  the  dollar  before.  The  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  does  make  men  honest.  A  town  could  afford, 
for  the  sake  of  business  alone,  to  run  a  revival  once 
a  year.  But,  Mr.  Minister,  you  are  not  living  for 
to-day,  for  to-morrow,  for  next  week,  for  next  year ; 
will  you  come  up  here  now  and  defend  your  work? 
We  do  not  want  you  to  defend  it  by  boys  or  by  mid- 
dle-aged men;  we  want  you  to  come  here  by  the 
death-bed  of  the  Christian  and  tell  us,  sir,  if  you 
will  defend  your  faith  there.  Would  not  he  come 
and  say,  "  That  is  the  test  I  want.  I  do  not  want 
you  to  try  Christianity  by  the  sunshine  Christians 
who  work  for  the  Lord  on  Sunday  and  the  devil  the 
rest  of  the  week,  nor  by  the  people  who  are  in  the 
church  as  an  insurance  society  to  keep  them  from 
burning  after  they  get  on  the  other  side ;  but  I  am 
willing  Christianity  shall  be  judged  by  the  record 
and  life  work  of  people  who  have  loved  God  and  kept 
his  commandments.  By  that  test  I  am  willing  to  be 
judged."  My  friends,  it  matters  not  how  far  we 
may  have  drifted  upon  the  sea  of  doubt  and  unbelief, 
we  must  accept  such  a  test  and  say  to  the  man  of 
God:  "  Any  person  who  teaches  morals  and  smooths 


26         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  pathway  to  the  grave,  thereby  lighting  up  the 
dark  future,  is  entitled  to  a  world's  gratitude.  You 
earn  your  money,  stand  aside." 

We  want  to  examine  another  trade,  and  we  call 
the  school  teacher.  "  What  do  you  give  the  people 
for  what  you  receive  ?  They  pay  you  and  they  expect 
that  you  will  return  value  received.  What  do  you 
give  back  ? "  The  teacher  would  come,  and  calling 
up  the  educated  merchant,  doctor,  lawyer  and  trades- 
man, would  say:  "This  is  the  result  of  my  work." 
"  Universal  education  is  the  foundation  of  liberty." 
Then  reaching  his  hand  to  the  teacher  of  morals — 
the  minister — would  say:  " Educated  conscientious- 
ness and  educated  intellect — a  dual  unit — is  the  only 
safe  foundation  for  a  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people  and  for  the  people."  Let  me  say  to  you, 
if  I  may  say  it  in  a  temperance  talk,  that  I  believe, 
in  this  country,  any  system  of  education  that  does 
not  educate  the  morals  as  well  as  the  intellect,  is  a 
fraud  and  a  failure.  Come  with  me  out  to  the  front- 
ier, and  I  will  show  you  men  who  are  the  graduates 
of  Eastern  colleges  who  have  fled  there  to  avoid  the 
effect  of  crimes  committed  in  their  former  homes. 
They  are  vile  and  devilish.  To  make  a  symmetrical 
man  or  woman,  the  moral  nature  must  be  developed, 
side  by  side  with  the  intellectual,  or  the  student 
becomes  an  intellectual  monstrosity. 

Therefore  we  say  to  the  teacher,  "  Take  your  place 
with  the  world's  workers  who  fairly  earn  the  com- 
pensation they  receive." 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  27 

We  want  to  test  another  trade,  and  we  shout  out 
to  the  blacksmith.  We  say:  "You  get  money,  come 
up  here,  and  bring  specimens  of  your  work."  He 
would  come,  and,  holding  up  a  horse-shoe,  would  say : 
"Here  is  my  work.  Every  time  I  put  a  shoe  on  a 
man's  horse  he  is  better  off,  and  I  am  better  off,  if 
he  pays  me."  Place  him  beside  the  minister  and 
teacher,  and  call  a  milliner  to  represent  the  ladies, 
and  we  say  to  her:  "You  get  money,  and  it  is  an 
important  question  to  us  married  men  what  you  give 
back."  She  comes  up,  and  holding  a  finished  hat  or 
bonnet,  says:  "I  made  that — is  it  not  well  done?" 
Although  men  make  sport  of  hats  and  bonnets,  yet 
we  are  free  to  confess  that  our  wives  look  prettier 
when  they  have  them  on,  and  when  we  take  the 
thing  and  look  at  it,  almost  trembling,  fearful  lest 
we  crush  it,  we  realize  that  we  can  earn  the  money 
to  buy  it  in  a  day,  and  with  our  clumsy  fingers  we 
•could  never  make  it ;  so  we  make  up  our  minds  it  is 
.a  necessity,  and  give  the  milliner  a  place  with  the 
others-  who  render  fair  return  for  the  money  they 
receive. 

Now  we  have  tested  these,  we  want  to  test  the  man 
of  the  dram-shop  in  this  State  by  the  same  stan- 
dards. "  Come  up,  sir.  You  said  a  minute  ago  the 
minister  was  as  good  as  the  saloon-keeper,  if  he 
behaved  himself  as  well.  If  the  minister  is  as  good, 
you  must  get  into  the  same  scales  of  political  econ- 
omy where  we  have  weighed  him.  Do  not  plead 
the  baby  act,  but  come.  You  dare  not  come  ?  Do  you 


28         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

hesitate  ?  You  get  money,  you  toil  not,  neither  do 
you  spin,  and  yet  few  workmen  can  wear  such 
clothes  as  you  do.  What  are  you  giving  for  what 
you  get?  Come  up  here,  sir;  bring  a  finished  spec- 
imen of  your  work ;  hold  it  up  here  for  the  crowd  to 
see,  and  show  us  its  fine  points!"  What  would  he 
bring?  What  does  the  dram  shop  manufacture? 
What  has  it  always  manufactured?  It  has  always 
manufactured  drunkards,  first,  last  and  all  the  time. 
A  dram-shop  keeper  is  as  distinctly  a  drunkard- 
maker  as  a  man  that  makes  shoes  is  a  shoemaker. 
That  is  all  he  ever  did  make,  that  is  all  he  ever  will 
make.  Show  me  a  first-class  sample  of  dram-shop 
work.  Could  you  induce  a  liquor  dealer  to  come  up 
here  and  hold  it  up  ?  What  does  he  say  ?  You  say~ 
to  him,  "You  make  drunkards."  His  very  first 
excuse  is,  "I  will  not  have  any  old  drunkards  hang- 
ing around  me."  If  it  is  a  good  thing  to  make  a 
drunkard,  a  drunkard  must  be  a  good  thing  after  he 
is  made.  Suppose,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  min- 
ister should  come  here  and  give  you  as  a  reason  why 
his  church  should  be  endorsed,  that  he  did  not  have 
any  old  Christians  hanging  around  his  prayer-meet- 
ings. Would  not  that  be  a  good  advertisement  for 
the  Christian  religion  ? 

I  saw  by  the  papers  that  at  the  Des  Plaines  camp- 
meeting  they  called  together  on  the  platform  all  the 
old  men  and  women  who  had  been  in  the  Christian, 
service  fifty  years,  and  there  was  a  crowd  gathered 
around  the  platform  to  hear  their  testimony;  the 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  29 

papers  stated  that  the  feeling  pervading  the  audience 
-was  wonderful.  Why  do  not  the  drunkard-makers 
come  up  here  and  call  up  a  number  of  their  veterans — 
a  number  of  men  they  have  worked  on  for  ten,  fifteen 
or  twenty  years,  with  red  noses,  bleared  eyes,  ragged 
-clothes,  toes  creeping  out  of  their  shoes?  Bring 
them  up  here  and  then  stand  up  and  exhibit  them, 
opening  the  Bible — let  the  liquor  seller  now  act  as 
interlocutor — open  the  Bible  and  read:  "No  drun- 
kard shall  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  and  then 
call  on  them  to  testify.  By  their  evidence  we  are 
willing  to  stand  or  fall.  Why  will  not  the  drunkard- 
makers  do  it?  Is  their  business  so  mean,  so  low,  so 
devilish,  that  when  they  have  broken  down  a  man  who 
lias  stood  by  them  through  thick  and  thin,  when  he 
has  given  his  money,  character — everything,  they 
kick  him  out  and  say:  "We  do  not  want  any  old 
drunkards  around  us!"  The  business  is  afraid  to 
meet  its  record.  Such  is  the  evidence  of  the  case. 
Go  down  the  street ;  a  new  wagon  is  standing  by  the 
curb ;  you  stop  to  admire  it  and  at  last  say:  "  I  wonder 
ivho  made  it."  "  I  did,  sir,"  answers  the  wagon- 
maker.  You  look  at  the  man.  He  is  dressed  in 
poor  clothes,  but  see  how  proud  he  is  as  he  contem- 
plates his  finished  work.  Last  year  while  visiting  a 
county  fair,  together  with  a  friend,  I  was  standing  by 
one  of  the  stock  pens,  looking  at  a  calf.  "  Wonder  who 
raised  the  calf,"  said  my  friend.  "I  did,"  answered 
a,  farmer  standing  near  by.  As  the  farmer  spoke, 
he  straightened  up  as  much  as  to  say,  "  I  am  proud 


30    THE  PEOPLE  VEKSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

of  my  work."  As  you  pass  along  the  streets  of  our 
cities,  you  frequently  see  other  work  nearly  finished 
sitting  on  the  curb  or  wallowing  in  the  gutter. 
Stop  and  ask,  "  Whose  job  is  this?"  Will  the  drun- 
kard-maker run  out  of  his  factory  and  say:  "I  did 
that  work?"  Why  will  not  the  drunkard-makers 
defend  their  work  ?  Can  you  separate  a  workman 
from  his  chips?  If  the  liquor  business  is  respect- 
able, its  products  must  be  respectable.  The  liquor 
business  has  its  own  work  and  acts  to  meet  and 
defend;  this  much,  no  more. 

The.  temperance  men  must  then  continue  to  press 
the  charges  against  the  traffic,  and  labor  to  perfect 
their  plan  of  work  against  such  a  dastardly  foe. 
We  are  striving  to  save  drunkards  and  to  prevent 
drunkenness. 

The  temperance  people  believe  in  reaching  down 
into  the  depths  of  debauchery  and  getting  hold  of 
the  poor  fellows;  I  say  reaching  with  tears  and 
prayers,  and  lifting  and  holding  them  up,  but  after 
we  have  helped  them  out  we  believe  in  blocking  the 
way  so  other  men  will  not  fall  in.  Save  the  drunkard 
and  prevent  drunkenness. 

Such,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  are  the  positions 
maintained,  and  the  methods  of  maintaining  them, 
believed  in  by  the  opposing  hosts.  Firm  in  the 
belief  in  the  righteousness  of  their  cause,  the  tem- 
perance hosts  will  move  for  a  verdict  of  guilty,  and 
demand  that  sentence  be  passed  on  this  old  hoary- 
headed  criminal;  and  then,  when  the  people  have 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  31 

settled  the  question,  and  settled  it  right,  we  can  say 
in  reality  as  we  now  say  in  theory,  "  Vox  populi,  vox 
Dei." 


IL 
WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PEESSED. 

AN    ADDRESS    DELIVERED    IN    THE    OPERA    HOUSE    AT 
WAUKESHA,  WISCONSIN,  THURSDAY,  OCT.  12,  1882. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — Early  in  September, 
while  visiting  in  the  City  of  Madison,  I  received  an 
invitation  from  temperance  friends  in  various  sec- 
tions of  the  state  to  come  here  and  talk  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  prohibition  of  the  alcoholic  liquor  traffic. 
I  was  willing  to  accept  this  invitation  for  two  reasons: 

1st:  I  was  in  your  state  four  years  ago,  and  when 
I  returned  to  my  western  home  I  carried  with  me 
the  memory  of  many  pleasant  places,  which  I  had 
a  sincere  desire  to  revisit  that  I  might  meet  old 
friends. 

2nd:  I  wished  to  know  if  the  people  of  this  state 
were  keeping  pace  with  other  states  in  the  great 
work  of  outlawing  the  drunkard-makers  of  this 
country.  Although  the  newspapers  almost  always 
tell  the  truth,  yet  sometimes  you  can  not  depend 
upon  their  telling  the  whole  truth  about  this  prohi- 
bition movement,  and  I  thought  if  I  wanted  to  know 
the  whole  truth  the  best  way  would  be  for  me  to 
come  here  and  see  you,  and  talk  with  you. 

32 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  33 

I  am  not  here  to  deliver  any  regular  lecture,  or 
set  address.  I  was  not  asked  to  do  that.  I  was 
asked  to  come  here  and  talk  to  you,  and  that  is  what 
I  intend  to  do — talk  to  you  upon  a  question  that  is 
as  much  your  question  as  it  is  my  question,  that 
interests  you  as  much  as  it  does  me, —  a  question 
that  you  desire  to  see  settled  as  earnestly  as  I  do, — 
although  you  and  I  may  differ  in  regard  to  the  best 
methods  of  settlement. 

I  always  wish  when  I  discuss  this  question  before 
an  audience,  that  I  could  call  up  every  man  and 
woman  and  swear  them  on  the  Bible  as  a  jury,  to 
render  an  honest  verdict  on  all  the  facts  in  the  case. 

A  great  business  —  a  great  traffic — is  on  trial  for 
its  life  before  a  jury  of  American  citizens.  The 
temperance  men  of  this  country  have  indicted  the 
liquor  traffic.  The  counts  of  the  indictment  are  as 
positive  and  plain  as  the  counts  of  an  indictment 
against  any  criminal,  and  the  people  are  the  jury 
who  are  to  determine  the  truth  or  falsity  of  this 
indictment.  Therefore  I  always  feel  that  what  I 
may  say  will  do  no  good  unless  it  shall  lead  the 
people  to  act — perhaps  first  to  think,  and  then  to  act. 

When  I  leave  the  platform  to-night  I  shall  be  no 
better  temperance  man  than  I  am  now.  If  I  accom- 
plish any  good  it  will  be  because  I  appeal  to  your 
reason  and  your  judgment;  that  when  you  go  from 
this  place,  you  will  be  willing  to  act  up  to  the  full 
measure  of  your  convictions.  If  I  could,  by  any 
trick  of  sophistry  or  any  power  of  personal  magnet- 


34        THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

ism,  lead  every  man  and  woman  in  this  house  to 
shout  for  temperance,  I  would  not  do  it,  unless  your 
judgment,  reason,  and  intelligence  told  you  to  shout 
I  would  give  little  for  a  temperance  man  who  was 
made  a  temperance  man  by  temporary  excitement. 
We  are  not  in  this  conflict  for  a  day,  we  are  not  in 
it  for  a  week,  we'  are  not  in  it  for  a  year,  but  we 
have  enlisted  in  this  campaign  to  win. 

The  purpose  of  the  temperance  men  of  this  coun- 
try has  been  for  years  well  denned,  and  they  have 
not  changed  it,  and  will  not  change  it  until  victory 
shall  come.  They  demand  the  complete  outlawry 
of  drunkard-making,  and  they  will  accept  nothing 
less. 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  aims  of  the  temper- 
ance movement.  The  temperance  men  intend  to 
destroy  the  drunkard-making  system  of  America  root 
and  branch.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  compromise 
upon  the  issue.  In  the  end,  the  liquor  traffic  of  this 
country  will  abolish  temperance,  or  temperance  will 
abolish  the  liquor  traffic.  The  issue  is  squarely 
made  and  squarely  joined  before  the  people,  so  I  say 
I  would  not  lead  any  man  into  the  temperance  ranks 
unless  he  comes  because  he  believes  it  is  right  and 
comes  to  stay.  I  would  have  you  take  the  facts  to 
your  home,  to  your  office,  to  your  store  or  place  of 
business,  and  when  you  are  alone,  and  away  from  all 
exciting  influences,  sit  down  calmly  and  honestly, 
and,  after  having  examined  the  liquor  side  of  the 
question,  and  the  temperance  side  of  the  question, 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  35 

make  up  your  verdict  in  accordance  with  your  hon- 
est judgment.  If  I  should  succeed  in  convincing 
you  that  I  am  right,  if  your  judgment,  reason, 
intelligence  tells  you  that  I  am  right,  and  then  you 
refuse  to  work  up  to  the  full  measure  of  your  convic- 
tions, you  are  guilty  of  an  injustice,  or  cowardice,  of 
which  I  would  not  believe  you  capable. 

The  whole  issue  involved  is  simply  a  question  of 
fact.  If  the  dram-shop  of  this  country  is  a  blessing ; 
if  it  makes  honest  voters,  honest  citizens,  kind  hus- 
bands and  loving  fathers;  if  it  leads  to  an  observ- 
ance of  the  Christian  Sabbath ;  if  it  leads  to  morality, 
manhood  and  intelligence ;  if  it  discourages  crime, 
vice,  pauperism,  illegal  voting  and  false  swearing, 
then  there  are  no  two  positions  for  you  and  me  to  take 
on  the  question.  If  the  liquor  traffic  is  a  blessing, 
every  patriotic  American,  every  man  who  loves  his 
country,  owes  it  to  his  citizenship,  to  his  own  sense 
of  honor,  to  stand  by  that  traffic,  talk  for  it,  work  for 
it,  vote  for  it ;  if  he  is  a  praying  man,  pray  for  it ;  if 
he  is  a  preacher,  he  is  a  humbug  if  he  will  not  preach 
for  it. 

If  the  reverse  is  true — if  the  liquor  traffic  of  this 
country  makes  drunkards,  cruel  husbands  and  unkind 
fathers ;  if  it  breaks  women's  hearts  and  degrades 
children;  if  it  fills  our  penitentiaries,  our  almshouses 
and  our  jails;  if  it  stimulates  riot  in  our  great  cities; 
if  it  stands  and  laughs  at  the  stuffing  of  the  ballot- 
box  ;  if  it  causes  men  to  swear  falsely  on  the  witness 
stand  or  in  the  jury  box;  in  other  words,  if  it  is  an 


36         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

-enemy  to  this  government ;  if  it  is  an  enemy  of  law 
and  order  and  civilization,  then  will  you  give 
me  a  single  reason  under  heaven  why  you,  as  an 
honest  man,  or  I,  as  an  honest  man,  can  vote  for  and 
sustain  it  with  such  a  record. 

"We  are  not  to  settle  this  question  as  individuals. 
The  institution  is  a  public  one.  If  it  is  destroyed, 
it  will  be  destroyed  by  the  state  and  national  gov- 
ernments. The  part  that  you  will  take,  the  part  that 
I  shall  take  in  destroying  it,  must  be  the  part  of  citizens 
of  the  state  and  of  the  republic.  The  question  then 
is,  not  how  it  will  affect  me  individually,  but  "  What 
is  for  the  best  good  of  the  whole  state  ?  " 

You  should  weigh  honestly  every  argument  that 
liquor  men  may  bring,  before  making  up  your  ver- 
dict. You  should  weigh  just  as  honestly  the  argu- 
ments of  the  temperance  men. 

A  man  asked  me  some  time  .ago:  "Finch,  would 
you  advise  a  temperance  man  to  read  whisky  papers  ?  " 

I  answered:  "I  would  not  give  much  for  a  tem- 
perance man  if  he  would  not  do  it." 

You  are  not  to  settle  this  question  as  an  individ- 
ual. You  are  a  citizen  of  the  state,  and  when  you 
vote  on  this  question,  the  influence  of  your  vote  does 
not  rest  with  yourself,  but  influences  the  whole  state. 
You  must  forget  your  individuality  and  remember 
your  position  as  the  patriot  and  citizen ;  and  if  there  are 
any  arguments  in- favor  of  the  liquor  traffic,  you  owe  it 
to  your  own  sense  of  honor,manhood  and  truth  to  weigh 
carefully  every  argument  that  the  liquor  men  may 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  37 

bring  in  making  up  your  verdict  Take  the  liquor 
traffic  and  all  the  good  it  has  done,  and  put  it  on  one 
side  of  your  scales  of  judgment.  Do  not  leave  out 
anything.  If  there  is  any  doubt,  give  the  criminal 
the  benefit  of  it.  That  is  the  rule  of  law  we  want 
applied  in  this  case.  After  putting  all  the  good  it 
has  done  into  one  side  of  the  scale,  put  all  the  evil  it 
has  done  into  the  other  side.  Take  its  record  in  this 
country,  weigh  it  honestly  and  well,  and  if  you  believe, 
after  an  investigation  of  this  kind,  that  the  liquor 
traffic  has  done  more  good  than  it  has  done  injury; 
that  it  is  a  blessing  to  the  country ;  that  it  tends  to 
perpetuate  the  government,  then  it  is  your  duty, 
beyond  all  question,  to  stand  by  and  support  the 
traffic.  If  the  dramshop  of  this  country  is  an  enemy 
to  the  state,  an  enemy  of  our  institutions,  I  cannot 
see  how  any  honest  man  dare  stand  and  defend  it — 
defend  an  institution  that  is  an  enemy  to  the  highest 
interests  of  his  country. 

From  this  point  we  can  certainly  go  forward  and 
look  at  the  facts  in  the  case.  Every  person  who  reads 
must  be  satisfied  that  this  question  must  be  settled 
in  this  country.  The  question, ' '  What  shall  the  gov- 
ernment do  with  the  alcoholic  liquor  traffic  ?  "  is  one 
that  must  be  heard.  We  cannot  laugh  it  down ;  we 
cannot  sneer  it  down ;  we  cannot  bulldoze  it  down ; 
and  there  is  not  money  enough  in  the  blood-stained 
coffers  of  the  drunkard-makers  to  prevent  the  people 
of  this  land  from  rendering  a  verdict  on  the  facts  in 
this  case. 


38         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

As  surely  as  this  American  people  live,  just  so 
surely  they  will  render  a  verdict  in  this  case,  even 
though  that  verdict  destroys  every  political  party 
that  has  an  existence  in  this  country. 

Go  home  to-night,  and  when  you  get  there,  you 
find  your  boy  on  the  bed ;  he  has  been  indisposed  for 
several  days ;  you  see  he  is  sick ;  you  put  your  hand 
on  his  head ;  it  is  burning  hot ;  put  your  finger  on 
his  pulse;  you  find  it  running  above  a  hundred; 
speak  to  him ;  he  answers  in  broken  sentences.  You 
at  once  send  for  the  physician.  When  he  comes, 
you  ask: 

"  What* is  the  matter  with  Willie?  " 

The  physician  makes  an  examination  of  the  boy's 
body,  asks  how  he  has  been  feeling  for  the  past  few 
days,  and  tells  you  that  Willie  has  the  fever. 

You  might  ask  your  physician,   "  What  is  fever?  " 

He  would  reply:  "The  child  has  taken,  through 
the  nose  and  lungs,  malarial  poison.  The  fever  and 
the  increase  of  pulse  is  simply  nature's  effort  to  ex- 
pel the  poison  and  save  the  child's  life.  This  in- 
creased activity  of  the  vital  forces  is  simply  nature 
defending  herself  against  the  poison  which  would  de- 
stroy the  organism  unless  expelled." 

You  ask:  "  What  shall  we  do  for  Willie?" 

The  medical  man  will  answer:  "  I  will  leave  medu 
cine  to  help  nature  to  do  its  work,  and  will  tell  you 
how  to  nurse  him.  Willie  will  get  well." 

Then  you  ask:  "Doctor,  how  long  before  he  will 
get  well?" 


WHY   THE   INDICTMENT   18   PRESSED.  dU 

The  doctor  will  answer  you:  "  Never,  until  the  poi- 
son, the  cause  of  the  heat,  the  cause  of  the  increased 
pulsation,  is  driven  out  of  the  system." 

He  will  tell  you  that  you  can  do  nothing  more  than 
to  help  nature  expel  the  poison,  and  when  the  poison 
is  gone,  the  heat  of  the  body  will  become  normal, 
the  pulse  will  go  down,  and  the  child  will  live. 

In  past  ages  governments  born  of  a  higher  civil- 
ization have  developed  rapidly  for  a  few  years  and 
then  died,  thereby  destroying  the  hopes  of  the  people. 
Such  governments  sickened  and  died  because  social 
poiso-n  in  their  political  systems  was  not  expelled  by 
rational  treatment.  This  is  the  history  of  the  world, 
and  the  only  hope  for  long  life  of  the  American 
government  is  the  destruction  of  false  notions  of 
treatment  of  social,  political  disease.  The  hope 
that  this  government  will  live  longer  than  other 
governments  have  lived,  is  based  upon  the  increas- 
ing intelligence  of  the  masses  in  regard  to  matters 
of  government. 

When  a  man  says  Americans  should  follow  any 
custom,  because  people  follow  it  in  another  land,  he 
talks  nonsense.  Take  the  history  of  the  world  and 
you  find  that,  after  a  few  years,  or  at  most  a  few  cen- 
turies, governments  created  with  every  prospect  of 
success  have  died  of  diseases  generated  in  their  own 
systems  by  neglect  of  the  ordinary  rules  of  political 
hygiene.  They  have  become  things  of  the  past 
because  they  have  allowed  the  poison  of  social  and 
political  vices  to  remain  in  their  organisms. 


40        THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

The  only  hope  I  have  for  this  government  is, 
that  the  statesmen  who  have  charge  of  the  life  and 
health  of  the  Kepublic  shall  profit  by  the  lessons  of 
past  ages.  One  thing  I  fear  is  the  tendency  to 
cling  to  customs  and  habits  of  other  lands.  The 
attempt  to  develop  here  the  customs  and  practices 
that  have  destroyed  liberty  in  other  lands  will  be 
national  suicide. 

This  government  is  largely  like  the  people;  it 
is  widely  different  from  European  governments. 
Fasten  this  thought  in  your  minds  and  keep  it 
there.  I  never  heard  a  gentleman  talking  against 
prohibition  and  defending  the  liquor  traffic  in 
this  country  who  used  this  word  "government"  in 
its  American  sense.  Liquor  men  always  use  the 
European  or  despotic  sense  of  the  word.  Daylight 
and  midnight  are  not  more  opposite.  In  this 
country  the  government  is  made  by  the  people; 
in  Europe  it  is  made  for  the  people.  Here  it 
comes  up  from  the  people;  there  it  comes  down 
from  the  king.  Here  it  is  the  people's  power  dele- 
gated to  official  representatives ;  there  it  is  divine  (?) 
power  delegated  to  the  ruler.  Here  it  is  intelligent 
common  sense ;  there  superstitious  ignorance.  Once 
while  speaking  in  Iowa  a  gentleman  interrupted  me, 
saying:  "Mr.  Finch,  if  this  government  should  pass 
a  prohibitory  liquor  law,  it  would  become  a  tyranny." 

I  said  to  him,  "  Please  say  that  again,  and  say  it 
slowly  so  I  can  catch  it." 

He  repeated  it:  "If  the  government  passes  a  proT 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED. 

hibitory  liquor  law  the  government  will  become  a 
tyranny." 

I  asked,  "Sir,  who  is  the  government?" 

He  answered,  "  The  people." 

"  The  government  being  the  people,  if  a  prohibi- 
tory liquor  law  is  passed  by  the  government,  it 
must  be  either  an  organic  law  passed  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people,  or  a  statutory  or  functional  law, 
passed  by  the  people  through  their  delegated  repre- 
sentatives?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"If  the  operation  of  such  a  law  is  tyrannical,  then 
the  people  are  the  tyrants?" 

'"Yes,  sir." 

"Who  are  the  people  going  to  tyrannize  over?" 

"The  people." 

I  asked  him  if  that  would  not  be  a  good  deal  like 
a  man  sitting  down  on  himself? 

It  is  the  grossest  kind  of  idiocy  in  this  country, 
where  all  political  power  is  inherent  in  the  people, 
to  say  that  any  despotism  can  ever  exist  until  the 
people  place  themselves  in  a  position  where  they 
cannot  govern  themselves.  When  a  man  talks  about 
the  will  of  the  people,  in  a  government  of  the  people, 
being  tyranny,  he  talks  nonsense.  In  this  country 
the  government  is  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people.  It  should  be  the  fact 
whether  it  is  or  not.  Consequently  the  people  are 
the  units  of  government. 

In  a  brick  building,  or  a  stone  building,  the  unit 


42    THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

of  the  building  is  the  single  brick  or  stone  in  the 
wall.  If  I  ask  upon  what  the  strength  of  this  opera 
house  depends,  you  would  answer  me,  that  its  shape 
has  something  to  do  with  it;  that  the  work  upon  it  has 
something  to  do  with  it ;  but  its  strength  primarily 
depends  upon  the  stone  in  the  wall.  If  the  stone  is 
rotten,  I  care  not  how  good  the  work,  I  care  not  how 
good  the  plan,  the  building  will  be  unstable — it  will 
not  be  strong.  The  character  of  the  building  de- 
pends on  the  units  of  the  structure.  In  this  govern- 
ment- the  unit  is  the  man,  the  woman,  the  child. 
Each  man  and  each  woman  whp  sits  before  me  is  a 
part  of  the  American  republic.  The  strength  of  the 
government  may  depend  somewhat  on  its  form, 
somewhat  upon  the  constitution,  yet  primarily  the 
strength  of  this  government  depends  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  individual  citizen.  Anything  that 
debauches  the  citizen  will  injure  the  government 
Anything  that  elevates  the  citizen  will  elevate  the 
government.  To  ruin  a  republic  is  simply  to  ruin 
its  citizens.  To  strengthen  a  republic,  you  simply 
have  to  build  up  the  intelligence,  morality  and  char- 
acter of  its  citizens. 

As  the  govenment  partakes  of  the  nature  of  its 
citizens,  so  it  is  subject  to  disease,  like  the  citizens 
who  compose  it.  Whenever  you  see  a  moral,  social 
or  political  fever  sweep  over  the  country — when  the 
political  pulse  runs  up,  every  thinking  man  must 
perceive  that  somewhere  in  the  organism  of  the 
government  there  is  a  poison  to  cause  the  fever. 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PBESSED.  43 

Especially  is  this  true  if  the  fever  is  not  temporary. 
Let  us  examine  this  temperance  fever.  It  is  as 
well  marked  a  type  of  social  or  political  fever  as  any 
country  ever  had.  It  commenced  almost  with  the 
birth  of  the  republic.  It  swept  over  the  states, 
increasing  in  force  until  about  1856,  when  suddenly 
in  the  political  organism  another  fever  broke  out. 
It  was  an  acute  one,  and  yet  the  strange  fact  in 
regard  to  these  two  national  diseases  is,  that  inher- 
ited poison  is  the  cause  of  both  of  them.  The  poison 
of  slavery  was  transmitted  to  the  child  from  the 
parent,  and  for  long  years  it  caused  local  irritation; 
caused  a  breaking  out  in  certain  limbs  of  the 
body,  until  in  1856  it  assumed  an  acute  form.  In 
1860  the  question  was  fairly  raised,  "  Shall  the 
government  die  or  live  ?"  As  soon  as  that  question 
was  raised,  the  temperance  men  and  the  religious 
men  of  the  nation  said,  "  This  question  of  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  nation's  life  must  be  settled  at  once. 
If  the  government  is  killed,  then  our  reform  will  die 
with  it.  Let  us  save  the  nation's  life." 

-But  no  sooner  was  that  fever  broken  up ;  no  sooner 
was  the  poison  which  caused  it,  eliminated  from  the 
body  of  the  government,  and  risk  of  its  return  avoided 
by  the  passage  of  the  constitutional  amendments 
and  the  Civil  Eights  bill,  than  from  the  north  to 
the  south,  from  the  east  to  the  west  of  this  nation,  the 
temperance  fever  broke  out  anew,  until  to-day  you 
can  hardly  ride  upon  a  railroad  train  but  you  hear 
people  talking  about  it;  in  the  post-offices  they  are 


4A        THE  PEOPLE  VEESUS  THE  LIQUOB  TRAFFIC. 

discussing  it;  the  newspapers  are  full  of  it;  in  the 
churches  the  ministers  preach  about  it;  in  the 
prayer  meetings  the  Christians  pray  about  it;  in 
political  conventions  the  politicians  swear  about  it 
There  is  not  a  section  of  this  land  where  it  is  not- 
felt  to  day.  What  does  it  tell  you?  No  matter 
whether  you  drink  liquor  or  abstain,  what  does  it 
tell  you?  It  must  tell  you  that  somewhere  in  the 
political  organism  of  this  nation  there  is  a  cause. 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  this  excitement  is  caused 
by  a  few  fanatics  and  a  few  old  women.  To  say 
that,  is  to  say  the  American  people  are  fools.  If  the 
American  people  will  allow  themselves,  for  more  than 
seventy  years,  to  get  excited  and  nervous  over  the 
stories  "of  fanatics  and  old  women,  the  American 
people  are  bigger  fools  than  anybody  ever  supposed 
them  to  be. 

You  know  that  the  best  men  of  to-day  are  talking 
about  this  question.  You  know  there  is  something, 
somewhere  in  the  political  organization  of  this  coun- 
try, that  causes  this  fever.  You  ask  me  how  long 
before  it  will  cease.  I  answer,  as  the  physician  an- 
swered in  regard  to  your  boy,  "  Never,  until  the 
grogshop  poison,  the  cause  of  this  unrest,  is  forever 
eliminated  from  the  political  organism  of  this  coun- 
try." You  must  settle  this  question.  You  cannot 
nominate  a  man  for  congress;  you  cannot  nominate 
a  man  for  the  legislature, — from  this  time  forward 
— you  will  never  nominate  a  man  for  president  even, 
where  this  issue  will  not  be  forced  upon  him. 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PBESSED.  45 

The  liquor  oligarchy  crack  the  whip  of  political 
corruption  over  the  political  parties  of  this  country 
and  cry,  "  Do  our  bidding  or  perish."  You  may 
talk  about  postponing  it,  but  no  man  can  run  for  of- 
fice in  this  country  but  the  liquor  men  will  demand 
of  him  to  get  down  in  the  mud  before  them.  If  he 
wrants  a  nomination  he  must  come  into  convention 
with  the  marks  of  his  own  defilement  on  him,  so 
that  the  delegates  from  the  grogshops  may  smell  it. 
If  he  will  not  do  that,  he  must  keep  his  mouth  closed 
and  keep  his  principles  to  himself. 

The  question  that  you  wish  to  have  answered  is, 
*'  What  is  the  best  method  of  settling  this  liquor 
problem?" 

When  the  temperance  agitation  started  in  this 
•country  there  were  two  classes  of  men,  just  as  there 
are  now.  One  class  said,  "  If  the  liquor  traffic  is  a 
.good  thing,  let  it  go  free ; — do  not  hamper  it  with 
law;  do  not  shackle  it;  give  it  a  fair  chance  for  ex- 
istence ;  do  not  put  any  more  chains  on  it  than  you 
would  on  a  grocery  or  a  dry  goods  store.  If  the 
liquor  business  is  a  friend  of  the  republic,  the  re- 
public ought  to  be  a  friend  to  the  liquor  business  and 
ought  to  leave  it  free  and  unfettered.  On  the  con- 
trary, if  it  tends  to  loosen  the  bands  of  the  young 
republic  and  break  down  our  institutions, — kill  it, 
and  kill  it  at  once." 

The  other  class  of  men  said,  "  Hold  on;  that  will 
not  do;  the  people  are  not  educated  up  to  prohibi- 
tion." Did  you  ever  hear  anybody  say  "the  people 


46    THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

are  not  educated  up  to  prohibition  ?"  I  always  feel 
like  thanking  a  liquor  man  when  he  uses  that  ex- 
pression. You  never  heard  him  say  "the  people  are 
not  educated  down  to  prohibition."  By  his  own 
language  he  admits  that  prohibition  is  on  a  higher 
moral,  social  and  political  level  than  the  license 
compromise  with  evil.  This  other  class  of  men 
went  on  to  say,  "  There  is  no  use  in  passing  a  law 
until  the  people  are  educated  up  to  the  point  of  obey- 
ing it."  And  when  they  said  that,  they  said  God 
Almighty  made  a  mistake.  You  ask  me  what  I 
mean?  I  mean  this:  That  if  God  had  never  passed 
his  prohibitory  commandments  until  the  people  were 
educated  up  to  the  point  of  obeying  them  he  never 
would  have  passed  them.  He  said  "  Thou  shalt  not 
steal."  They  were  stealing  then  in  the  wilderness, 
and  there  is  stealing  in  America  to-day.  He  said, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness."  I  presume 
they  were  doing  it  then,  and  they  certainly  are  do- 
ing it  to-day.  If  you  do  not  think  so,  indict  a  liquor 
seller  and  bring  him  into  court  and  bring  some  of 
his  customers  to  swear  against  him. 

There  is  a  class  of  men,  and  we  have  a  great  many 
of  them,  who  claim  to  be  leaders  of  public  opinion, 
who  are  incessantly  preaching  that  there  is  no  use  in 
passing  a  law  until  the  people  are  educated  up  to 
the  point  of  obeying  it,  while  they  know,  if  they 
know  anything  of  the  principles  of  government  and 
law,  that  it  is  the  thinnest  twaddle  ever  used  by  dem- 
agogues to  catch  fools. 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  47 

Law  is  not  passed  for  men  who  obey  law,- — it  is 
passed  for  the  men  who  are  not  educated  up  to  the 
point  of  obeying  it.  If  all  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try were  educated  up  to  the  point  where  they  would 
not  steal,  would  you  want  any  law  against  stealing? 
If  they  were  educated  up  to  the  point  where  they 
would  not  murder,  would  you  want  any  law  against 
murder?  What  do  you  want  any  law  against  steal- 
ing for?  Not  for  the  men  who  are  educated  up  to 
the  point  where  they  will  not  steal.  You  want  a 
law  against  stealing  for  those  who  are  not  educated 
up  to  the  belief  that  it  is  particularly  wrong  to  take 
your  horse.  You  do  not  want  a  law  against  murder 
for  men  who  are  educated  up  to  the  point  where 
they  will  not  kill,  but  you  want  a  law  against  mur- 
der, for  men  who  are  not  educated  up  to  the  point  of 
regarding  human  life  as  sacred.  The  whole  theory 
of  law  is,  to  deal  with  the  law  breaker,  and  not  the 
man  who  obeys  law.  It  is  for  the  men  on  a  de- 
graded plane,  and  not  for  the  men  on  a  civilized 
plane. 

You  know  that  this  is  true  all  through  God's  uni- 
verse. Go  home  to-night  and  take  your  baby  boy  in 
your  arms.  You  think  he  is  the  nicest  boy  in  the 
world,  and  I  presume  he  is.  Baby  knows  nothing 
about  law.  He  can  say  a  few  words — nouns,  the 
names  of  things  with  which  he  is  familiar.  If  you 
tell  him  to  say  law,  he  will  say  it,  but  he  does  not 
know  the  difference  between  law  and  a  turnip  or  a 
cabbage.  There  is  a  fire  in  the  stove  and  it  is  hot. 


48         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Baby  is  attracted  by  the  red  color.  He  sticks  his 
little  hand  on  the  stove  and  he  is  burned.  Baby  is 
punished  by  the  law,  even  more  than  an  old  man  who 
knew  all  about  the  law,  because  the  man's  hand  is 
hard  and  baby's  is  soft.  The  law  is  there  as  an  edu- 
cator, and  baby  will  not  be  as  apt  to  put  his  fingers 
out  in  that  way  again.  The  law  is  the  best  educator 
we  could  have.  A  mother  goes  up  stairs  to  her 
little  one.  There  is  a  chair  by  the  window  and 
the  window  is  open.  The  mother  is  busy;  baby 
creeps  to  the  chair  and  climbs  upon  it — tumbles 
out  of  the  window  and  breaks  his  neck.  What 
killed  him  ?  The  law  of  gravitation ;  yet  baby  did 
not  know  of  the  law.  The  law  was  passed  upon  cor- 
rect principles,  and  it  existed  in  nature  since  the  foun- 
dation of  the  universe.  You  gray-haired  men  can 
almost  remember  the  time  when  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
discovered  the  law  of  gravitation.  Before  that  there 
was  not  a  man  in  the  world  who  could  tell  why  he  fell 
down.  They  did  not  know  why  they  did  not  fall  off 
the  earth  instead  of  on  it.  To-day  every  step  that 
science  takes,  every  step  that  the  medical  profession 
takes,  is  simply  digging  out  laws  that  have  existed 
since  the  earth  existed. 

God  said  it  is  wrong  to  steal:  "Thou  shalt  not." 
The  law  lay  along  the  principle.  God  said  it  was 
wrong  to  bear  false  witness:  "  Thou  shalt  not."  The 
law  lay  along  the  principle.  God  said  it  was  wrong 
to  kill:  "Thou  shalt  not."  The  law  lay  along  the 
principle.  That  is  God's  plan.  I  presume  that  we 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  49 

have  men  in  this  country  who,  if  God  had  invited 
ihem  into  the  Garden  of  Eden,  would  have  told  him 
he  was  making  blunders,  and  advised  him  to  change 
the  plans. 

In  my  own  state,  in  the  cattle  counties,  for  sev- 
eral years,  the  law  against  murder  was  practi- 
cally a  dead  letter.  Public  sentiment  was  very  low. 
It  was  really  considered  a  mark  of  honor  to  have 
killed  a  man.  If  a  man  told  another  he  lied,  out 
would  come  a  revolver,  and  he  died.  The  people 
said:  "Served  him  right."  A  man  going  along  the 
street  was  pointed  out  as  having  killed  two  men. 
Several  times  I  have  been  touched  on  the  shoulder 
by  a  friend,  who  said:  "That  man  has  killed  three 
men."  Public  sentiment  justified  it.  For  a  long 
time  it  was  impossible  to  indict  a  man  for  murder 
and  put  him  on  trial.  Perhaps  there  was  not  one 
man  on  the  jury  but  had  committed  a  murder  him- 
self. The  result  was  "not  guilty,"  or  "killed  the 
man  in  self  defense."  But  the  state  did  not  pass 
laws  on  the  level  with  the  moral  sense  of  those  peo- 
ple. The  state  did  not  say :  "  We  cannot  prohibit 
you  from  shooting,  so  we  will  pass  a  license  law  and 
license  you  to  shoot,  if  you  will  give  us  $500;  we 
will  keep  the  penalties  down  until  you  are  educated 
up  to  the  point  of  thinking  it  is  wrong  to  kill."  The 
state  said,  "  It  is  wrong  to  kill,"  and  it  held  the  law 
over  those  counties,  till  the  people  came  up,  up,  UP 
to  the  law,  and  to-day  there  is  no  portion  of  the 
United  States  where  the  law  is  better  enforced.  It 


50         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

is  better  enforced  in  those  counties  of  Nebraska  than 
in  the  cities  of  Chicago  or  Milwaukee.  The  state 
acted  on  the  correct  principle. 

The  talk  of  the  license  men  is  that  the  State  shall 
pass  a  law  on  the  level  of  the  people,  and  then  edu- 
cate the  people  up,  through  the  law  and  above  it. 
Utter  nonsense.  The  license  idea  has  heretofore 
prevailed.  License  laws  have  been  passed.  More 
than  seventy  years,  in  this  country,  we  have  been 
trying  to  regulate  and  restrain  the  liquor  business 
with  license  laws. 

A  gentleman  said  to  me  the  other  day :  "  Mr.  Finch, 
prohibition  does  not  prohibit." 

I  said:  "  That  is  not  the  question.  The  question 
for  you  as  a  license  man  to  answer  is,  *  Does  regula- 
tion regulate  ?' " 

When  prohibition  has  been  tried  as  long  as  license 
has  been,  backed  by  the  state  and  national  govern- 
ment, if  prohibition  is  as  big  a  fizzle  as  license  now 
is,  we  will  consent  to  the  adoption  of  a  new  plan. 
We  are  not  particular  about  the  plan ;  it  is  simply 
the  result  we  wish  to  achieve.  For  more  than  sev- 
enty years  we  have  tried  this  license  system.  The 
liquor  business  was  weak  when  the  license  plan  was 
adopted;  but  under  the  fostering  care  of  this  ac- 
cursed fraud,  it  has  become  the  autocrat  of  politics; 
and  you  know  this  to  be  the  fact. 

That  license  laws  are  a  dead  letter,  no  man  will 
dare  deny.  In  your  own  state  the  law  eays  the  dram- 
shops shall  not  sell  liquor  to  minors.  They  do  sell 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PBESSED,  51 

to  minors.  The  law  says  they  shall  not  sell  liquor 
to  drunkards.  They  do  sell  to  drunkards.  The  law 
says  they  shall  not  sell  liquor  on  Sunday.  They  do 
sell  on  Sunday.  The  law  says  they  shall  not  sell 
adulterated  liquors.  They  do  sell  poisoned  liquors. 
For  more  than  seventy  years  in  different  states  in 
this  Union  the  people  have  tried  to  make  this  old 
license  fizzle  work.  The  temperance  people  during- 
this  time  have  done  all  that  they  could  to  secure 
obedience  to  the  law,  and  to  save  men  from  the 
pernicious  influences  of  the  licensed  liquor  traffic. 
They  have  used  the  pledge.  They  have  gone 
down  into  the  gutter  and  lifted  out  the  victims 
of  this  devilish  system.  And  when  they  have 
lifted  them  out  of  the  pitfall,  the  license  men  vote  to 
keep  the  pitfall  open,  so  that  other  men  may  fall 
therein ;  and  temperance  men  have  a  job  on  hand  all 
the  time.  Temperance  workers  have  e'stablished 
temperance  lodges.  They  have  built  Friendly  inns. 
They  have  built  coffee  houses.  They  have  estab- 
lished reading  rooms,  and  put  lecturers  on  the  plat- 
form and  paid  them.  They  have  circulated  books 
and  arguments ;  and  farther  than  that,  they  have 
gone  into  towns  and  cities  and  organized  leagues 
to  enforce  this  law  and  try  to  make  it  work.  Now, 
after  seventy  years  of  earnest  trial,  after  seventy 
years  of  tears  and  prayer  and  hard  work,  of  money- 
giving  and  struggling,  I  stand  here  to  say,  what  no 
man  dares  challenge,  that  the  license  system  of  this 
country  is  the  most  unmitigated  humbug  that  was- 


52         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

ever  invented  by  bad  men  to  fool  an  ignorant  people. 
But  the  license  man  springs  up,  ready  to  raise  an 
objection: 

"Mr.  Finch,  you  have  laws  enough  now,  if  you 
would  only  enforce  them." 

"Gentlemen,  we  have  tried  to  enforce  them;  but 
they  are  not  laws  of  our  making.  We  do  not  have 
faith  in  them ;  do  you  ?" 

"  Yes,"  he  answers. 

"  You  are  in  favor  of  license?" 

"  Yes." 

"  You  voted  for  license  ?" 

"Yes." 

"You  believe  it  will  work?" 

"Yes." 

• 

"Why  do  you  not  make  it  work?  If  you  are  a 
license  man,  are  you  not  ashamed  to  come  and  ask 
the  prohibitionist,  '  why  do  you  not  enforce  our  law  ? ' 
Why  do  you  not  enforce  it  yourselves?  We  do  not 
believe  in  the  system.  We  have  worked  for  its  en- 
forcement, because  it  was  the  best  thing  we  could  do. 
We  never  believed  in  it." 

Before  the  high  license  law  was  passed  in  my  own 
state  two  years  ago,  I  was  talking  with  a  gentleman, 
a  member  of  the  state  senate.  He  asked: 

"Mr.  Finch,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  this 
license  law?" 

I  answered,  "Nothing." 

"  Are  you  in  favor  of  it?" 

"  No,  sir." 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  53 

"Why  not?" 

I  said:  "I  believe  if  whisky  selling  is  a  good 
thing,  the  poor  man  has  as  much  right  to  sell  as  the 
rich  man.  If  it  is  a  good  thing,  let  every  man  sell. 
If  it  is  a  curse,  LET  NO  MAN  SELL  IT." 

He  said:  "That  is  theory." 

I  replied:  "It  is  fact." 

He  said:  "Finch,  you  cannot  pass  a  prohibitory 
law,  and  you  could  not  enforce  it  if  it  was  passed." 

"Yes,  we  can." 

"But  who  will  do  it?" 

"  The  prohibitionists.  Give  us  our  law,  and  if  we 
do  not  make  it  operate  we  will  repeal  it." 

He  said:  "If  you  pass  this  license  law  it  will  be 
enforced." 

I  answered:  "You  know,  and  every  man  in  this 
country  knows,  that  a  license  law  never  was  enforced 
and  never  will  be  enforced.  License  law  means,  let 
the  liquor  man  pay  so  much  money  for  license ;  then 
let  him  do  as  he  pleases.  You  support  license  because 
it  is  as  near  free  whisky  as  you  can  get.  If  this  li- 
cense law  is  passed  it  will  be  a  dead  letter  because 
your  men  will  not  do  anything,  and  the  prohibition- 
ists do  not  believe  in  it." 

Said  he:  "If  it  is  passed,  Mr.  Finch,  it  will  be  en- 
forced." 

"Who  is  to  see  that  it  will  be  enforced?" 

"The  license  men." 

The  law  was  passed.  When  it  came  into  effect 
last  June  it  was  universally  disobeyed  over  the  state. 


64    THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

The  liquor  men  would  not  even  pay  the  license.  I 
waited  to  see  what  the  license  men  would  do.  I 
wanted  to  see  if  they  were  honest.  They  did  not 
lift  a  finger !  At  last  an  editor,  in  a  long  article,  de- 
clared that  I  was  the  leader  of  the  strongest  political 
temperance  organization  in  the  country,  and  that  it 
was  my  duty  to  enforce  that  law!  The  same  man 
had  been  in  the  legislature  and  had  voted  for  the  law. 
A  few  days  after  I  met  him,  and  he  inquired: 

"  Finch,  did  you  see  that  editorial  of  mine  ?  " 

"Yes;"  and  I  laughed. 

"Why  do  you  laugh?" 

"  To  think  what  a  fool  you  were." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

I  asked:  "Whose  law  is  it:  your  law  or  my  law?" 

"It  is  our  law." 

"You  believe  in  it;  I  do  not.  You  voted  for  if;  I 
did  not.  You  say  regulation  will  regulate ;  I  say  it 
will  not.  Is  not  such  the  fact?" 

"Yes." 

"  Then,  take  care  of  your  own  babies,  please.  Do 
not  come  around  to  me  to  have  me  take  care  of  them." 

In  not  a  single  instance  in  the  state  did  the  license 
men  lift  a  finger  to  enforce  the  law ;  and  when  at  last 
the  rebellion  had  become  general,  the  prohibitionists 
of  Nebraska  stepped  out  to  say:  "Gentlemen,  you 
must  pay  this  license."  And  after  one  of  the  bitterest 
fights  ever  made  in  our  state,  we  succeeded  in  forc- 
ing them  to  pay  over  the  money,  in  all  sections  of 
the  state,  though  the  law  was  and  is  a  dead  letter  in 
all  other  respects. 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  55 

I  have  learned,  by  sad  experience,  that  you  might 
as  well  try  to  regulate  a  rattlesnake  by  stroking  his 
tail,  as  to  regulate  a  grog-shop,  and  by  license  let  its 
fangs  remain.  If  I  ever  get  indignant  in  my  life  it 
is  when  I  think  of  outrages  which  I  have  suffered; 
and  if  the  Lord  will  spare  my  life  long  enough,  I 
will  get  even  with  the  beer  sneaks  as  sure  as  I  live. 

"But,"  you  say,  "this  is  an  exceptional  instance." 
JJet  us  see. 

In  the  city  of  Omaha,  Neb.,  there  was  living,  a 
little  more  than  a  year  ago,  a  gentleman  by  the  name 
of  Watson  B.  Smith,  clerk  of  the  United  States  court, 
one  of  the  finest  gentlemen  ever  in  the  state — a 
leading  politician,  an  earnest  Christian,  a  leading 
layman  in  the  Baptist  church  of  our  state;  a  man 
who  did  as  much  for  Nebraska  Sabbath  schools  and 
Nebraska  civilization  as  any  other  man.  Mr.  Smith 
was  an  honest  man.  He  said:  "The  liquor  sellers 
must  obey  the  law  in  this  state."  Some  business 
men  rallied  around  him.  They  simply  tried  to  make 
the  liquor  sellers  take  out  licenses  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  the  state.  They  commenced  their  pros- 
ecutions in  July,  and  in  October  Col.  Watson  B. 
Smith,  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  was  shot  down  at  his 
office  door,  in  the  United  Spates  government  build- 
ing, by  assassins,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he 
was  working  to  make  liquor  cut-throats'obey  law. 

Up  and  down  this  land  you  know  the  business  to- 
day is  an  outlaw,  and  that  there  is  nothing  under 
heaven  too  mean  for  it  to  do.  When  a  man  says,  "  I 


56         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

am  a  license  man,"  the  only  thing  I  desire  to  ask  of 
him  is  to  be  an  honest  license  man ;  that  is,  to  try  to 
enforce  the  law  in  which  he  believes. 

If  you  believe  license  ever  was,  or  ever  can  be 
made  to  work,  suppose  you  try  it  to-morrow  morn- 
ing. Go  down  and  swear  out  warrants  against  liquor 
dealers  who  are  selling  liquors  to  minors;  arrest 
those  who  are  selling  adulterated  liquors ;  keep  it  up 
for  six  months,  and  if  at  the  end  of  that  time  you  are 
not  a  prohibitionist,  I  will  buy  you  the  best  suit  of 
clothes  to  be  found  in  this  town.  You  know,  my 
friends — I  care  not  how  much  you  talk  in  favor  of 
license — that  you  do  not  try  to  make  license  work. 
You  know  that  if  you  did,  the  liquor  men  would  en- 
deavor to  injure  your  business  and  smirch  your  char- 
acter; that  they  would  hire  bullies  to  come  up  be- 
hind you  and  club  you  on  the  head.  In  Milwaukee, 
simply  because  some  of  the  citizens  asked  that  the 
law  might  be  enforced  so  far  as  closing  disreputable 
places  on  Sunday,  the  liquor  men  organized  and 
boycotted  every  man  who  dared  ask  the  enforcement 
of  law. 

After  seventy  years'  trial  every  man  must  be  con- 
vinced that  to  talk  regulation,  to  talk  license,  is  to  talk 
the  most  contemptible  nonsense. 

The  question  which  comes  up  as  we  proceed  to 
look  for  a  remedy  is:  What  is  the  nature  of  the 
dramshop — what  is  its  relation  to  the  government? 
I  said  a  few  moments  ago, — and  I  wish  to  repeat  it 
because  it  is  the  turning  point  of  this  discussion — 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PBESSED.  57 

that  this  government  is  not  like  European  govern- 
ments. That  men  drink  liquor  in  Germany  and 
France,  is  no  reason  why  the  liquor  traffic  should 
be  authorized  by  American  governments.  On  the 
contrary  it  is  the  reverse  of  a  reason.  The  difference- 
in  the  forms  of  government  must  be  remembered. 

Suppose  the  people  of  Russia  become  drunken, 
debauched,  riotous  and  violent,  who  will  control 
them  ?  The  government.  Who  is  the  government  ? 
The  Czar  with  his  army.  He  can  control  them,  be- 
cause the  government  is  distinct  from,  and  indepen- 
dent of  the  subject,  in  his  empire.  There  is  an 
immense  standing  army  at  the  command  of  the 
Czar  ready  to  suppress  any  uprising  of  a  drunken, 
an  ignorant,  and  a  riotous  populace.  Suppose  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country  become  drunken,  debauched,  and 
riotous — who  is  going  to  control  theni  ?  The  govern- 
ment. Who  is  the  government?  The  people.  Then 
the  people  are  to  govern  the  people?  Yes.  But 
the  people  being  the  rioters,  and  at  the  same  time 
being  the  governing  power,  the  government  becomes 
anarchy.  You  see  the  difference  at  once. 

The  only  safety  of  this  country  is  the  intelli- 
gence of  its  voters;  the  intelligence  on  the  farms 
and  in  the  workshops;  intelligence  so  widely  dif- 
fused, that  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor  alike,  shall 
be  educated.  To  say  that,  because  an  institution 
can  safely  exist  where  there  is  a  standing  army  to 
control  it,  it  can  exist  without  danger  in  a  republic, 
where  the  citizen  is  the  controlling  power,  is  to  talk 
nonsense. 


58         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Ever  since  1  have  been  in  Nebraska,  men  have 
come  to  me  and  said,  "  Finch,  your  taxes  amount  to 
so  many  dollars."  "For  what?"  "In  part  for 
school  purposes." 

Why  do  they  tax  me  ?  I  have  had  no  child,  since  I 
have  been  in  the  state,  old  enough  to  go  to  schooL 
Why  do  they  require  me  to  pay  for  schools?  Be- 
cause the  very  basis  of  this  government  is  the  in- 
telligence of  its  citizens.  When  you  educate  the 
boys  you  strengthen  the  government,  and  by 
strengthening  the  government  you  insure  your 
property,  because  property  can  only  exist  while 
government  exists.  TJiere  can  be  no  property  with- 
out law,  and  law  is  the  child  of  government.  I 
never  paid  a  cent  in  my  life  into  a  school  fund  that 
I  did  not  regard  as  just  so  much  insurance  on  my 
life  and  property.  It  costs  less  money  to  educate 
a  boy  and  make  a  man  of  him,  than  to  let  him  go 
to  the  bad,  and  take  care  of  him  afterwards. 

Take  the  instance  of  the  James  boys.  The  twenty 
thousand  dollars  that  Governor  Crittenden  gave  to 
hire  Jesse  James  assassinated  would  have  educated 
twenty  boys  in  the  path  of  manhood.  But  those 
boys  at  an  early  age  were  thrown  into  the  society 
of  bushwhackers  and  renegades,  and  grew  up  in 
that  terrible  school  of  outlawry  and  crime.  For 
twenty  years  the  State  of  Missouri  trembled  in 
their  power.  Their  education  with  cut  throat 
bands  made  them  criminals.  It  is  cheaper  for  the 
government  to  educate  the  children  than  to  take 
care  of  the  criminals. 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  59 

The  foundation  of  this  government  rests  on  four 
things:  the  church — and  I  do  not  speak  of  any  par- 
ticular church,  but  of  the  church  universal, — the 
school,  the  press,  and  the  home.  Take  these  four 
institutions  from  America,  drive  them  out  so  they 
will  not  come  back,  and  you  can  dig  the  grave  of 
this  republic  and  the  corpse  will  soon  be  ready. 

When  the  people  tax  me  to  maintain  schools  and 
churches,  on  the  theory  that  the  intelligence  and 
virtue  of  the  people  are  the  only  true  safeguards 
of  a  republic,  I  have  a  right  to  ask,  "  Does  the 
liquor  traffic  build  up  or  destroy  these  interests?" 
You  say  that  the  common  school  has  a  wonderful 
influence.  What  influence  has  the  dram-shop  ?  It 
must  have  some  kind  of  influence. 

Four  years  ago  I  received  a  challenge  from  Judge 
Isaac  S.  Haskell,  of  Omaha,  to  come  to  that  city  and 
discuss  with  him  the  question  of  prohibition.  The 
Judge  was  a  license  man,  and  I  felt  particularly  in- 
terested in  meeting  him.  I  thought  he  would  de- 
fend the  liquor  traffic,  and  I  prosecute  it;  conse- 
quently I  desired  to  get  the  evidence  against  his  old 
client  in  the  town  where  he  lived.  I  went  to  Omaha 
after  facts.  The  first  place  I  visited  was  the  com- 
mon school  of  Omaha.  I  asked  the  Superintendent, 
"  How  many  schools  have  you  here  ?  " 

He  answered,  "Seven:  six  ward  schools  and  a 
high  school;  also,  a  college  and  some  private  schools." 

"  How  many  teachers  have  you  in  the  city  insti- 
tutions?" 


60         THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

"  Eighty-four/' 

"How  many  graduated  last  year?  " 

"About  one  hundred  and  eight." 

The  city  of  Omaha  paid  $67,000  to  run  that 
system  of  schools  because  it  had  a  wonderful  influ- 
ence for  good.  I  then  went  to  look  after  the  other 
schools,  the  dramshops.  I  went  to  their  superintend- 
ent, the  police  judge,  and  asked  him: 

"How  are  your  schools  getting  along?" 

He  said,  "Finch,  are  you  drunk?" 

I  said,  "You  should  not  think  I  am  drunk  be- 
cause most  of  the  men  brought  here  are." 

He  inquired  what  I  meant.  I  explained.  He 
laughed,  "  So  you  think  I  am  the  superintendent  of 
the  saloons?" 

"Are  you  not?" 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  do  not  know  but  I  might  be 
called  so." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  judge,  how  many  schools  of  this 
kind  have  you  in  the  city?" 

He  told  me  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  licensed 
ones. 

"How  many  teachers  in  those  schools?" 

He  told  me,  including  cappers,  bar-tenders  and 
owners,  about  four  hundred. 

"How  many  scholars  did  you  have  up  for  gradua- 
tion during  the  year?" 

He  told  me  he  gave  diplomas  to  the  rockpile,  the 
county  jail,  and  fined,  about  twelve  hundred.  Some 
had  graduated  three  or  four  times  over;  "but  it  is 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  6l 

perfectly  safe  to  assume,"  he  continued,  "that  there 
were  six  hundred  different  graduates." 

Now,  my  friends,  as  thinking  people,  I  want  to 
ask  you  if  it  is  not  a  question  of  importance  what 
the  influence  of  the  liquor  traffic  is.  You  say  that 
these  common  schools  with  seven  buildings,  eighty- 
four  teachers,  and  one  hundred  and  eight  graduates, 
have  a  wonderful  influence — what  kind  of  an  influ- 
ence must  the  dramshops  have  ?  There  are  seven 
schools  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  drinking 
places,  eighty-four  teachers  and  four  hundred  cap- 
pers, bartenders  and  owners  ;  one  hundred  and 
eight  graduates  in  learning  against  sii  hundred 
graduates  in  crime.  Now  I  submit  that  it  is  a 
question  that  every  man  who  loves  his  country  must 
ask  himself,  "What  is  the  nature  of  the  educational 
influence  of  the  grogshops  on  our  voters  and  peo- 
ple ?"  If  the  dramshop  education  is  good,  then  take 
the  grogshop  and  place  it  over  beside  the  school,  and 
we  shall  have  the  home,  the  church,  the  school,  the 
newspaper  and  the  dramshop  as  the  bulwark  of  our 
liberties.  If  that  education  is  bad,  if  it  tears  down 
the  work  of  the  other  institutions,  then  let  it  be 
abolished.  What  sense  is  there  in  educating  a  boy 
until  he  is  twenty -one  years  of  age,  and  then  opening 
a  drinking-hell  to  send  him  to  a  drunkard's  grave,  the 
gallows,  or  to  prison?  What  sense  is  there  in  run- 
ning these  two  systems  of  education?  The  dram- 
shop destroys  the  work  your  common  schools  are 
doing,  debauches  and  rots  the  very  foundations  of 


62         THE  PEOPLE  YEESUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

this  government,  by  corrupting  the  individual  char- 
acter of  the  men  and  women  who  compose  the  gov- 
ernment. 

You  may  ask  what  the  influence  of  the  liquor 
traffic  is.  I  do  not  need  to  insult  your  intelligence 
by  going  into  details  to  show  you.  You  all  know. 
Suppose  you  open  twenty-five  drinking  places  in 
Waukesha  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  this 
town.  Suppose  you  never  had  them  here  before. 
When  you  have  opened  them  and  they  are  in  good 
running  order,  what  other  building  will  you  have  to 
erect  in  this  town?  Suppose  you  open  twenty-five 
dry  goods  stores;  they  would  take  care  of  them- 
selves. Twenty-five  grocery  stores;  yes;  but  with 
twenty-five  grogshops  you  must  have  a  cooler. 
You  can  no  more  run  a  grogshop  without  a  cooler 
as  a  tail,  and  the  marshal  and  his  force  as  the 
strings,  than  you  can  fly  a  kite  without  the  same 
requisites.  Why  do  you  need  a  police  force  in  a 
city  like  this  ?  How  often  are  your  policemen  called 
upon  to  go  to  a  church  and  arrest  old  Christians 
coming  from  prayer-meeting  under  the  influence  of 
Christ's  spirit,  to  keep  them  from  fighting?  How 
many  knock-down  fights  did  you  ever  know  to  occur 
in  this  town  under  the  intoxicating  influence  of  pork 
and  beans  bought  in  a  grocery  store  ?  How  many 
men  did  you  ever  know  in  this  town  to  go  home  at 
night  under  the  influence  of  new  boots  bought  in  a 
boot  store  and  kick  their  wives  out  in  the  snow? 
How  many  assaults  and  batteries  and  riots  were  ever 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  18  PRESSED.  63 

caused  in  this  town  by  the  stimulating  effect  of  beef- 
steak bought  in  a  butcher  shop  ?  What  other  insti- 
tution in  the  world  is  there  that  necessitates  officers 
to  arrest  its  products,  and  prisons  in  which  to  lock 
them  up? 

I  was  in  an  Illinois  town  last  winter  when  a  gen- 
tleman came  and  asked  me  to  ride  through  the  city 
with  him.  In  riding  through  the  city  I  was  aston- 
ished to  see  how  their  dramshops  were  located ;  three 
in  a  bunch,  the  bunches  being  in  different  parts  of 
the  city.  I  said  to  the  gentleman,  "  These  liquor 
dealers  must  be  fools ;  why  do  they  open  their  grog- 
shops so  near  each  other?" 

He  said,  "  We  make  them  get  in  bunches,  or  else 
we  will  not  license  them." 

"Why  so?" 

He  answered,  '*  If  three  of  them  are  together  one 
policeman  can  watch  the  three.  If  they  were  scat- 
tered all  over  town  we  should  require  a  larger  police 
force." 

Speaking  with  the  chief  of  police  of  one  of  the 
largest  cities  of  this  country,  a  man  who  drinks  liquor 
and  who  is  a  license  man,  I  asked,  "  If  you  abolish 
every  drinking-place  in  this  city,  how  many  police- 
men would  be  required?"  He  replied,  "A  hundred 
night  watchmen  could  do  our  work."  They  have  at 
the  present  time  more  than  twenty-five  hundred 
armed,  disciplined  and  uniformed  policemen. 

No  honest  man  can  doubt  that  the  liquor  shops  of 
this  country  are  primary  schools  of  crime. 


64         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC!. 

At  a  fair,  sometime  since.  I  addressed  a  very  large 
audience  in  the  forenoon;  in  Ihe  afternoon  I  was 
walking  about  the  grounds  looking  at  the  exhibition 
when  a  man  came  to  me  and  said: 

"Your  name  is  Finch;  you  are  the  man  who 
talked  temperance  this  forenoon?" 

"Yes;  or  prohibition." 

He  said,    "  Well,  it  all  means  the  same  thing." 

I  told  him  some  people  thought  so. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  I  do  not  want  to  insult  you." 

I  told  him  that  was  exceedingly  fortunate  for  him, 
and  me,  too — it  might  save  unpleasantness. 

He  said,  "I  am  a  liquor-dealer,  and  the  managers 
of  this  fair  did  a  dirty,  mean  thing  in  getting  you 
here.  This  fair  represents  all  the  industries,  and 
mine  is  a  legitimate  business.  For  them  to  get 
anybody  here,  at  a  public  fair,  to  bring  into  disrepute 
one  of  the  industries  of  the  county,  is  mean." 

I  said,  "It  does  look  as  though  there  was  reason 
for  your  complaint.  My  friend,  I  believe  you  have 
been  insulted,  and,  if  I  was  in  your  place,  I  would 
go  over  to  the  president's  office,  and  kick  up  the 
biggest  row  they  ever  had  on  this  ground.  You  say 
this  is  for  all  the  industries  of  the  county."  I 
took  out  of  my  pocket  a  premium  list,  and  said, 
"Here  is  a  premium  for  the  nicest  horses,  the  nicest 
cows,  the  best  calves;  for  chickens,  ducks,  turkeys 
and  geese;  for  beets,  turnips,  squashes  and  potatoes; 
for  farm  machinery;  for  all  kinds  of  ladies'  work; 
for  cheese  and  butter.  The  managers  of  this  fair 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  65 

seem  to  have  offered  a  premium  to  encourage  every 
industry  but  yours.  Now  I  would  raise  a  row." 

He  asked,   "  What  do  you  mean?  " 

I  replied,  "  You  do  a  legitimate  business.  You 
are  manufacturing  and  turning  your  products  out  all 
the  time.  They  ought  to  offer  a  premium  on  some 
of  your  finished  jobs.  They  ought  to  put  down 
$25  for  the  best  specimen  of  bummer  made  in  a  grog- 
shop in  this  county;  $15  for  the  next,  and  $10  for 
the  next,  and  a  red  ribbon  for  the  fourth.  If  you 
will  go  with  me  to  the  president  we  will  give  him  fits 
for  not  doing  it." 

The  liquor-dealer  straightened  up,  and  said  I  was 
a  damned  fool. 

They  say  temperance  men  talk  gush  and  non- 
sense. But  I  answer,  the  liquor  business  can  no 
longer  plead  the  baby  act  in  this  country.  It  must 
stand  on  the  same  plane  of  political  economy  with 
every  other  trade. 

In  the  west,  since  I  have  lived  here — and  I  have 
lived  here  some  years — I  have  heard  some  men  say 
that  in  New  York  city  the  Democrats  stuffed  the 
ballot-boxes  and  hired  repeaters  to  vote  "  early  and 
often."  You  ask  me  if  they  did  this.  Undoubtedly 
they  did.  Up  and  down  the  land  we  have  heard  men 
talking  about  the  purity  of  the  ballot-box.  People 
say,  "  Does  not  corruption  exist  there?"  Of  course 
it  does.  If  it  exists,  what  is  the  cause  of  it  ?  Did 
you  ever  stop  to  think?  There  is  no  such  corrup- 
tion in  the  country  districts.  You  can  not  corrupt 


66          THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE   LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  farmers,  you  can  not  corrupt  the  sober  -men.  If 
corruption  exists  at  the  ballot-box  there  must  be 
cause  for  it.  What  is  the  cause  ? 

There  stands  a  workman ;  he  does  not  drink  liquor ; 
he  has  money  in  his  pocket;  he  has  a  good  job;  his 
brain  is  clear;  his  wife  and  family  are  happy.  For 
the  first  time  he  goes  to  a  drinking-place  and  drinks. 
During  four  or  five  years  he  goes  down  and  down, 
and  bye  and  bye  he  gets  reckless,  loses  his  business, 
and  his  family  have  to  beg.  He  is  an  outcast  on 
the  street.  On  an  election  morning,  there  this  man 
stands,  on  a  street  corner,  ragged,  dirty,  sick;  crav- 
ing for  something  to  drink;  his  stomach  so  hungry 
for  the  poison  that  he  would  sell  his  soul  for  a  drink 
of  liquor.  The  only  thing  that  man  possesses  which 
will  bring  money  is  his  vote.  Do  you  suppose  that 
man,  with  morals  gone,  reputation  gone — starving, 
ragged  and  hungry,  will  vote  like  an  American  citi- 
zen, according  to  his  convictions,  if  he  can  get 
money  for  voting  otherwise  ?  No. 

The  dramshop  is  the  cause  of  most  of  the  corrup- 
tion in  our  great  centres  of  population.  Talk  about 
purifying  the  ballot-box  in  our  great  cities!  The 
ballot-box  never  will  be  purified  until  the  voter  is 
purified.  You  may  pass  election  laws  and  fence 
around  the  ballot-box,  but  the  only  hope  of  a  pure 
ballot-box  is  a  pure  citizenship. 

What  is  true  of  New  York  is  true  of  almost  every 
great  city.  In  the  cities  it  is  doubtful  to-day 
whether  republican  government  is  a  success.  The 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  0  < 

debauchery  of  the  voter,  the  corruption  of  the  ballot 
box  is  an  effect;  and  the  cause  is  the  American 
dramshop.  The  tendency  of  the  liquor  interest  in 
this  country  is  to  degrade  men ;  to  debauch  men ;  to 
stuff  ballot-boxes;  elect  mean  men  to  office,  and  in 
every  sense  of  the  word  to  tear  down  and  ruin  Amer- 
ican institutions ;  consequently  it  is  a  question  in  this 
country  whether  the  American  system  of  govern- 
ment shall  live,  or  whether  this  curse  shall  destroy  it. 

Now,  as  to  the  remedies.  One  man  asks,  "Has 
the  government  the  right  to  destroy  this  business  ?  " 
A  friend  interrupted  me  once  to  say:  "Mr.  Finch,  I 
have  a  natural  right  to  sell  liquor." 

I  said,  "Please  say  it  again  and  say  it  slowly." 

He  did. 

I  said,  "What  do  you  mean  by  it?" 

He  did  not  answer. 

Said  I,  "I  suppose  you  mean,  if  you  mean  any- 
thing, that  in  a  state  of  nature,  you  had  a  right  to 
sell  it;  that  is,  when  you  were  a  wild  man  you  had 
a  right  to  sell  it?  And  who  would  you  sell  whisky 
to,  in  a  state  of  nature?  You  can  not  sell  whisky 
unless  you  have  somebody  to  sell  it  to,  and  that 
would  be  a  state  of  association.  You  could  not 
trade  unless  men  come  together  to  trade,  and  that 
would  be  the  formation  of  society.  All  trade  is  the 
child  of  society.  "If  trade  is  the  child  of  society, 
society  has  the  same  right  as  any  parent.  If  trade 
will  not  behave  itself,  society  may  take  it  across  its 
knee.  If  that  will  not  do,  it  may  do  more." 


68    THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Suppose  a  man  comes  here  with  a  club  to  kill  me ; 
probably  under  the  laws  of  this  country  I  would  be 
compelled  to  retire  as  far  as  I  could  with  safety,  but 
when  the  issue  is  between  his  life  and  my  life  he 
must  die,  because  every  man  has  the  right  to  defend 
himself.  I  am  a  man,  and  I  have  a  right  to  be  a 
man.  I  exist,  and  I  h^ve  a  right  to  exist.  This  is 
the  foundation  of  social  and  political  ethics. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  muscular  preacher  who  used 
all  the  powers  the  Lord  had  given  him,  fists  as  well 
as  tongue.  Some  of  his  sisters  thought  he  was  too 
much  inclined  to  use  his  fists,  so  they  sent  him  this 
text:  "If  a  man  smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn 
to  him  the  other  also."  They  thought  they  would 
puzzle  the  old  man  to  harmonize  the  text  with  his 
conduct.  He  said  he  would  preach  from  it  the  next 
Sabbath,  and  he  did.  He  opened  with  the  usual 
services,  took  his  text,  and  went  ahead.  He  went  on 
to  say  that  the  Bible  was  distinguished  from  all 
other  books  by  appealing  to  the  God-man  and  not 
to  the  brute-man.  He  continued,  "If  a  man  should 
strike  you  on  the  right  cheek  he  might  do  it  through 
mistake,  or  might  do  it  through  a  feeling  of  mis- 
chief, and  if  you  turned  around  without  asking  any 
questions  and  struck  him  back,  that  would  be  acting 
like  a  brute.  You  should  keep  still  and  turn  the 
other  cheek.  If  he  strikes  you  on  that,  you  know 
that  he  meant  it;  then  go  for  him." 

That  may  not  be  very  good  Bible  interpretation, 
but  it  is  a  very  good  interpretation  of  the  law  of  this 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  69 

country.  The  law  that  is  inherent  in  every  individ- 
ual, the  right  of  self-defense,  is  inherent  in  the 
state  of  which  the  individual  forms  a  part.  The 
government  has  a  right  to  defend  its  own  life,  and 
we  have  seen  in  this  country  to  what  extent  it  might 
defend  it.  You  remember,  and  so  do  I,  when  more 
troops  were  necessary  and  a  conscription  act  was 
passed  to  draft  men  into  the  army,  how  many  men 
fled  to  Canada  to  avoid  the  draft.  Why  was  the  draft 
ordered?  On  this  same  principle,  the  right  of  the 
government  to  defend  its  own  existence.  That  right 
is  so  sacred  that  the  government  can  take  men  from 
their  homes,  put  on  their  backs  the  army  blue,  put 
guns  on  their  shoulders,  march  them  away  and  stand 
them  in  front  of  guns  to  be  shot  at.  The  right  of 
the  government  to  defend  its  own  life  must  remain 
as  it  is  or  the  government  is  good  for  nothing.  The 
government  has  the  right  to  destroy  any  business, 
any  custom,  or  any  trade  that  tends  to  destroy  the 
government  by  debauching  the  character  of  the  citi- 
zens that  make  the  government.  The  highest  courts 
of  the  nation  have  again  and  again  affirmed  the 
principle ;  and  this  is  the  declaration  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States,  and  every  other  court  of 
last  resort  that  has  had  occasion  to  pass  upon  the 
question:  "The  government  has  the  right,  through 
its  police  power,  to  protect  its  own  life." 

If  the  government  has  the  right,  the  question  is 
how  to  use  it.  As  I  have  said,  this  government  is 
not  like  European  governments.  They  do  not  recog- 


70         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOE  TRAFFIC. 

nize  the  fact  that  the  people  grow.  This  govern- 
ment does  recognize  that  fact.  I  do  not  know  when 
I  have  laughed  as  much  as  I  did  the  other  day,  as  I 
read  a  Democratic  platform  adopted  in  one  of  the 
states.  The  reason  I  laughed  was  because  I  used 
to  be  a  Democrat  myself  and  used  to  believe  such 
fool-nonsense.  What  they  said  was,  "We  are  in 
favor  of  returning  to  the  primitive  government  of 
our  forefathers."  feThat  was  their  declaration.  I 
laughed.  You  ask  me  why,  and  I  tell  you.  Since 
the  sunrise  of  creation's  morning  humanity  has 
moved  on,  on — up  the  hill  of  progress.  There  have 
been  eddies  in  the  great  tide  or  current  that  have 
made  it  seem  almost  as  though  humanity  was  mov-* 
ing  backward;  but  I  stand  here  unhesitatingly  to 
affirm  that,  as  a  whole,  humanity  has  never  retro- 
graded. As  humanity  has  advanced,  government 
has  advanced.  First,  the  patriarchal  form.  As  the 
people  advanced  other  forms  were  adopted. 

Fifty  years  ago,  in  the  days  of  our  forefathers,  we 
did  not  need  any  government  to  look  after  railroads, 
because  then  there  were  no  railroads.  As  mankind 
went  forward  inventive  genius  developed  railroads. 
As  soon  as  they  were  developed,  the  government  had 
to  meet  the  railroad  problem;  and  to-day,  in  that 
question,  this  government  has  a  mightier  problem 
of  government  than  our  forefathers  ever  had  to  deal 
with. 

Fifty  years  ago  we  did  not  need  a  government  to 
look  after  the  telegraph  wires ;  to-day  we  do. 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  71 

Ten  years  ago  we  did  not  need  a  government  to 
look  after  telephones;  to-day  we  do. 

Thirty  years  from  this  time  the  government  will 
be  far  in  advance  of  to-day.  New  social  problems 
are  constantly  arising.  New  social  problems  are 
forcing  themselves  to  the  front  and  the  government 
must  meet  them  and  solve  them,  or  die. 

In  Europe  they  have  never  provided  for  this 
growth.  There,  the  governments  are  like  shells. 
Take  Russia  to-day;  it  is  a  despotism  because  the 
government  is  like  an  iron-clad  shell.  The  people 
have  developed  and  filled  it.  The  people  have 
tried  to  break  the  shell  with  the  dagger,  with  the 
bomb,  and  by  social  revolution,  but  they  have  not 
succeeded  yet.  But  as  sure  as  God's  people  go  up 
to  the  point  He  has  ordained,  just  so  sure  that  gov- 
ernment will  go  to  pieces  and  let  the  people  advance. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  about  it. 

In  much  of  Europe  the  only  pathway  for  man- 
kind's advance  is  the  pathway  of  bloodshed.  Every 
advance  made  in  those  countries  has  been  with  the 
bayonet  or  the  dagger. 

The  men  who  laid  the  foundations  of  this  govern- 
ment laid  wiser  than  that.  They  said,  "this  nation 
will  grow." 

The  prudent  mother  who  has  a  little  girl  who  is 
growing  very  rapidly,  when  she  buys  a  dress  of 
durable  material,  puts  in  tucks,  so  that  when  the 
child  grows  the  dress  can  be  made  to  fit  her. 

The  wisest  thing  ever  said  by  an  American  states- 


72         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

man  was,  "  Unless  we  provide  for  the  peaceable  future 
development  of  the  people,  some  day  they  will  de- 
velop through  bloodshed  and  assassination.  They 
gave  us  a  constitution  under  which  the  people  can 
grow  without  fighting  and  without  revolution ;  and  in 
the  constitution  of  every  state  they  put  that  expan- 
sive link,  providing  that  the  people  may,  when  they 
wish,  amend  their  organic  law  and  develop  their 
government,  without  riot,  without  revolution,  and 
without  bloodshed.  In  other  words,  if  there  was  a 
revolution,  it  should  be  a  revolution  by  votes,  not 
by  bayonets. 

The  temperance  men  say  the  remedy  for  this  evil 
of  intemperance  is  simply  that  the  government  shall 
develop.  For  years,  long  years,  in  the  state  of 
Wisconsin  they  have  gone,  with  tears  in  their  eyes, 
to  the  legislature  of  this  state  and  said,  "Grant  us — 
the  people,  in  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people — the  right  to  govern  our- 
selves. Give  us  the  privilege  of  amending  our 
organic  law.  Not  YOUR  organic  law,  Mr.  Legislator, 
but  OUR  law.  Give  us,  the  people,  the  right  that 
belongs  to  us,  to  govern  ourselves."  They  have 
gone  up  there  in  thousands,  by  their  names,  and  on 
their  knees  have  begged  the  party  machines  in  this 
state  to  recognize  one  of  the  first  principles  of  this 
government,  and  submit  an  amendment  to  the  con- 
stitution in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  American 
institutions.  But  the  liquor  men  have  said  "If  you 
submit  it  the  people  will  pass  it.  You  must  not 


WHY  THE  INDICTMENT  IS  PRESSED.  73 

submit  it;  if  you  do  we  will  beat  your  party."  And 
the  party  men,  whipped  down  under  the  liquor  sel- 
lers, said  it  would  not  do  to  submit  it. 

You  say  Russia  is  a  despotism.  Why?  Because 
the  Czar  says,  "You  shall  not  make  a  constitution 
for  yourselves."  In  Wisconsin  the  party  machine 
sits  on  the  neck  of  the  people  and  says,  "You  shall 
not  make  a  constitution  for  yourselves."  Can  you 
tell  me  the  difference  between  the  despotism  of  the 
Czar  and  the  despotism  of  political  demagogues? 

You  say  in  Wisconsin  you  have  a  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  and 
you  know  that  for  years  and  years  the  statement  has 
been  made  a  lie  by  the  political  machines  of  this 
state.  The  people  begged  and  plead  for  the  right 
to  vote  on  a  primary  principle  of  government,  but 
because  some  men  feared  it  would  knock  a  cog  off 
the  wheel  of  the  old  party  machine  they  denied  the 
right  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves. 

Thus,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  under  the  license 
system  the  liquor  oligarchy  has  grown  until  it  im- 
pudently defies  law  and  seeks  to  overturn  the  very 
foundations  of  the  government.  Its  character  as  a 
political  assassin  is  so  well  known  that  politicians 
ask — not  what  will  the  people  do — but  what  do  the 
liquor  men  want?  how  will  the  dramsellers  regard 
our  action? 

In  view  of  all  the  facts,  it  seems  to  be  the  plain 
duty  of  every  patriot  and  citizen  to  rally  to  the  de- 
fense of  American  liberties,  and  by  crushing  the 


74        THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

grogshop  oligarchy,  strengthen  the  foundations  of 
our  civil  and  political  institutions.  I  have  faith  to 
believe  that  the  jury  of  America's  voters  will  con- 
demn the  traffic  and  that  the  Eepublic  will  execute 
the  sentence.  Then,  indeed,  may  the  patriot  poet 
sing: 

Columbia,  Columbia,  to  glory  arise, 
The  queen  of  the  world  and  the  child  of  the  skies! 
Thy  genius  commands  thee;  with  rapture  behold, 
While  ages  on  ages  thy  splendors  unfold. 
Thy  reign  is  the  last  and  the  noblest  of  time, 
Most  fruitful  thy  soil,  most  inviting  thy  clime. 
Let  the  crimes  of  the  east  ne'er  encrimson  thy  name; 
Be  freedom,  and  science,  and  virtue,  thy  fame. 


III. 

AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES. 

DELIVERED    AT    LEWIS'     OPERA    HOUSE,    DES    MOINES, 
IOWA,  APRIL    22,    1882. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  I  have  come  to  your 
state  to  discuss  the  necessity,  feasibility  and  practi- 
cability of  the  prohibition  or  inhibition  of  the  alco- 
holic liquor  traffic.  This  traffic  having  been  indicted 
by  the  legislative  grand  jury  is  now  in  the  court,  to 
be  tried  by  the  grandest  jury  of  a  republic — the 
people.  Your  legislators  having  recognized  that  the 
salus  populi,  not  the  solus  CIVITATIS,  is  the  supreme* 
LEX,  the  case  is  in  your  hands  to  investigate,  ex- 
amine and  determine.  The  law-making  power  being 
the  one  to  pass  on  the  question,  the  issue  involved  is 
not  one  of  law  but  of  fact.  I  enter  this  investiga- 
tion with  misgivings  in  regard  to  my  own  abilities 
to  materially  assist  you.  I  come  as  an  assistant  not 
as  a  teacher,  and  hope  I  may,  if  I  do  anything,  as- 
sist you  to  reach  a  just,  righteous  verdict.  In  view 
of  the  great  interests  involved,  I  would  not,  as  an 
American  citizen,  dare  mislead  you,  but  deem  it  my 

75 


76        THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

duty  to  counsel  the  fullevst,  fairest  and  most  com- 
plete investigation  of  all  the  facts  in  this  case. 

The  gentlemen  who  are  defending  the  criminal 
have,  and  probably  will  continue  to  exhaust  every 
quibble  before  they  will  go  to  trial  on  the  real  issue. 
A  celebrated  lawyer  once  said  to  a  graduating  class, 
"  If  you  have  a  client  who  is  guilty,  and  who  has  no 
defense,  never  let  him  be  tried."  "  How  will  you 
prevent  it?"  asked  one  of  the  students.  "If  they 
force  you  into  court,  try  the  opposing  attorney,  try 
the  witnesses,  try  the  judge,  and  if  nothing  else  will 
win,  try  the  jury,  but  never  try  your  client."  This 
advice  has  been  and  will  be  adopted  by  the  defense, 
and  it  may  be  best  for  us  at  the  commencement 
of  this  investigation  to  determine  by  whom  and  how 
the  case  is  to  be  tried,  and  what  issues  are,  and  what- 
issues  are  not  involved  in  the  case. 

This  question  is  to  be  tried  by  you  voters,  not  as 
Germans,  Irishmen,  Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  New- 
Yorkers,  or  Illinoisans,  but  as  citizen  voters  of  Iowa, 
bound  by  your  honor  as  voters  to  do  what  in  your 
honest  judgment  is  best  for  the  state.  It  is  to  be 
deprecated  that  the  gentlemen  on  the  side  of  the- 
liquor  traffic  have  thought  it  necessary  to  appeal  to 
class,  clan  and  national  prejudices,  thereby  disinte- 
grating society  for  selfish  ends.  Although  such, 
demagoguery  will  not  influence  you  sensible  men, 
it  shows  how  utterly  reckless  and  unscrupulous  ar& 
the  advocates  on  the  other  side. 

See  what  interests  they  jeopardize  to  accomplish 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  77 

an  acquittal.  A  republic  must  be  homogeneous  if  it 
hopes  to  live  and  prosper.  An  individual  cannot 
take  into  his  stomach  pine-knots,  sticks,  stones,  tacks 
and  nails,  and  allow  them  to  remain  there  unassimi- 
lated  and  undigested,  and  live,  and  Iowa  cannot  take 
into  her  political  organism  New  Yorkers,  Illinoisans, 
Germans,  Irishmen  and  persons  from  other  nations 
and  states,  allow  them  to  remain  in  the  political  or- 
ganism banded  together  as  clans  and  nationalities, 
unassimilated  and  undigested,  and  politically  or 
socially  prosper.  Anything  that  prevents  the  assimi- 
lation or  digestion  of  food  in  the  physical  organism 
is  an  enemy  of  the  body.  Any  man  or  class  of  men 
who  try  to  induce  Germans  to  band  together  in  this 
country  as  Germans,  or  Irishmen  as  Irishmen,  is  a 
traitor  to  the  government  and  its  liberties.  All  such 
work  and  talk  is  unrepublican,  undemocratic  and 
un-American,  as  well  as  an  insult  to  the  nationality 
thus  sought  to  be  used  as  tools. 

The  term  "  German  vote,"  which,  during  the  last 
few  years,  has  become  a  power  in  certain  political 
circles,  originated  in  this  vile  demagoguery.  All1 
voters  in  this  country  are  Americans,  native  and 
foreign  born.  No  man  has  a  right  to  vote  in  Iowa 
a,s  a  New  Yorker  or  German.  If  he  votes  it  is  as  a 
citizen  of  Iowa.  Any  man  who  does  not  love  Iowa 
better  than  any  other  country,  had  better  emigrate. 
American  know-nothingism  was  a  curse  to  this  coun- 
try because  it  acted  as  a  disintegrating  force  on 
society.  German  know-nothingism,  as  now  de- 


78    THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

veloped  by  tricksters  and  liquor-sellers,  is  of  the 
same  class  of  political  heresies.  If  it  continues  it 
will  undoubtedly  develop  American  know-noth- 
ingism  as  its  antidote,  when  the  Germans  who  have 
been  led  into  this  movement  will  be  the  ones  to 
suffer,  as  five  American  votes  will  count  more  than 
one  German  vote.  But  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this 
accursed  political  trickery  may  die  before  such  a 
remedy  will  be  necessary.  No  greater  insult  could 
be  offered  to  the  German-American  voters  of  Iowa 
than  to  insinuate  that  they  are  controlled  by  their 
stomachs  instead  of  their  brains,  and  that  with  a 
swill-pail  full  of  beer  they  can  be  led  up  to  the  polls 
and  voted  either  way.  The  grass  on  Southern  battle- 
fields, growing  green  over  the  graves  of  noble 
Americans  born  in  Germany  who  died  for  this 
country,  hurls  the  lie  in  the  teeth  of  the  men  who 
claim  that  Germans  are  controlled  by  appetite  and 
by  liquor  demagogues,  not  by  principle. 

These  men,  who  appeal  to  German  ideas,  theories 
and  practices,  do  so  to  subserve  selfish  interests,  and 
I  submit  that  such  practices  are  enough  to  cast 
doubt  on  the  merit  of  their  defense.  Anything  that 
excites  race-feeling  instead  of  intelligence,  appetite 
instead  of  reason,  passion  instead  of  conscience,  self- 
interest  instead  of  duty,  should  be  shut  out  of  a  case 
involving  grave  questions  of  the  functions  and  duties 
of  government. 

The  voters  who  favor  the  traffic  should  investigate, 
together,  with  the  temperance  voters,  the  arguments 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  79 

and  facts  brought  forward  by  both  sides,  and  on 
these  facts  and  arguments,  as  explained  by  their 
own  experience  and  observation,  render  their  verdict. 

Among  the  issues  not  involved  in  this  case  is  that 
of  political  partisanship.  I  stand  before  you  to- 
night a  Democrat,  with  my  reason  and  intelligence 
endorsing  the  principles  of  American  democracy, 
not  as  represented  in  some  of  the  state  platforms 
written  by  political  tricksters  to  catch  political  trai- 
tors. I  have  no  sympathy  with  this  gerrymandering 
of  political  platforms  to  catch  soreheads  from  other 
parties,  believing  as  I  do  that  a  man  who  leaves  his 
own  party  for  spite  and  votes  with  another  party  for 
revenge  is  an  unsafe  and  unreliable  man,  and  not 
worth  purchasing  at  such  a  price, — but  believing  in 
the  principles  as  laid  down  when  the  party  passed 
seven  prohibitory  laws  in  as  many  different  states. 

My  friend  Senator  Kimball  is  a  tried,  true  Re- 
publican. On  the  conclusions  to  be  deduced  from 
certain  political  data  we  differ  broadly,  but  on  this 
issue  we  agree.  Love  of  home,  country,  civiliza- 
tion and  liberty  are  equally  dear  to  the  Democratic 
as  well  as  the  Republican  father,  and  if  these  mutual 
interests  are  endangered  by  the  liquor  traffic,  parti- 
sanship is  forgotten  in  the  struggle  with  the  com- 
mon enemy.  "For  home  and  native  land"  is  the 
war-cry  that  makes  us  brothers. 

Neither  is  the  issue  of  the  use  nor  abstinence  from 
the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  involved  in  this  cam- 
paign. The  prohibitory  constitutional  amendment 


80        THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

no  more  prohibits  the  USE  of  intoxicating  liquors 
than  section  4035  of  the  statutes  of  Iowa  prohibits 
the  USE  of  adulterated  foods.  That  section  reads: 
"  If  any  person  knowingly  sell  any  kind  of  diseased 
or  corrupted  or  unwholesome  provisions,  whether  for 
meat  or  drink,  without  making  the  same  fully  known 
to  the  buyer,  he  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment 
in  the  county  jail  not  more  than  thirty  days,  or  by  a 
fine  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars." 

This  deals  with  the  traffic,  not  with  the  use. 
Trade  being  a  social  institution,  society  has  a  right 
to  destroy  it  if  its  effects  are  deleterious.  Use  is 
an  individual  matter  over  which  society  has  no  con- 
trol as  long  as  the  individual  does  not  injure  society 
by  the  use. 

Section  4041  of  Iowa  statutes  reads:  "If  any 
person  throw,  or  cause  to  be  thrown,  any  dead  animal 
into  any  river,  well,  spring,  cistern,  reservoir,  stream, 
or  pond,  he  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  in 
the  county  jail  not  less  than  ten  nor  more  than  thirty 
days,  or  by  fine  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  one 
hundred  dollars." 

This  deals  with  the  public  act  of  poisoning  the 
water,  not  with  the  individual  use  of  the  poisoned 
water.  It  does  not  say  you  shall  not  drink  the 
water.  It  says  a  man  shall  not  pcison  the  water. 
The  one  act  directly  affects  society,  the  other  affects 
the  individual  directly  and  society  indirectly,  and 
society  prohibits  the  first. 

Society  will  never  undertake  to  say  that  an  indi- 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  81 

vidual  shall  not  read  obscene  literature,  but  it  does 
say  individuals  shall  not  print  and  circulate  such 
literature,  to  corrupt  the  elements  of  which  society 
is  composed,  thereby  endangering  the  life,  prosperity 
and  usefulness  of  society.  Self-preservation  is  the 
first  law  of  life,  of  states  as  well  as  individuals. 
Trade,  traffic,  business  depends  largely  upon  society 
— the  state — for  its  existence.  Anything  that  af- 
fects, deleteriously,  the  public  health,  public  moral- 
ity, public  order,  public  peace,  public  safety,  the 
state  must,  as  far  as  in  its  power,  destroy,  to  pre- 
serve its  own  life.  The  state  must  guard  against 
these  social  diseases  that  tend  to  break  down  its 
system,  or  it  will  die.  The  thing  which  every  trade 
and  traffic  must  show  is  that  it  strengthens  and 
builds  up  the  health  of  society.  If  it  fails  to  show 
this;  if  it  generates  disease  in  the  political  system; 
if  it  acts  as  an  ulcer  on  the  body  politic,  society — 
the  state — must,  to  preserve  its  own  existence,  destroy 
it,  and  no  rights  are  violated  thereby — the  traffic 
having  forfeited  all  right  to  demand  protection  from 
the  state  by  its  indirect  attacks  on  the  life,  pros- 
perity and  order  of  the  state. 

The  friends  of  the  amendment  recognizing  the 
fact  that  society  is  made  up  of  individuals,  and  the 
health  and  character  of  the  unit  of  society,  the  indi- 
vidual, affects  to  a  very  large  degree  the  health, 
prosperity  and  usefulness  of  the  political  system^ 
believe  it  to  be  for  the  best  interest  of  society,  in 
short,  its  duty,  to  make  everything  as  favorable  as 


82        THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

possible  for  the  development  of  those  traits  and 
characteristics  of  the  race  which  tend  to  build  up 
and  strengthen  it's  power  for  good,  and  to  destroy  as 
far  as  possible  all  institutions,  customs  and  practices- 
which  tend  to  develop  those  viler  characteristics  of 
the  race,  which  endanger  its  life,  and  weaken  its. 
power  to  bless  the  people.  In  short,  they  believe 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  government  to  make  it  as  easy 
as  possible  for  the  individual  to  do  right  and  as  dif- 
ficult as  possible  for  him  to  do  wrong. 

The  anti-amendment  advocates  claim,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  it  is  the  duty  of  society  to  take  into  its 
system  those  institutions  which  generate  corruption 
and  disease  of  the  elements  of  its  own  life  in  order 
to  test  what  elements  can  stand  the  strain  and  be 
stronger  by  it.  In  other  words,  that  an  individual 
had  better  take  corruption  or  poison,  in  order  to 
generate  a  fever  to  purify  his  system.  Would  not 
the  learned  materia-medicist  say,  "It  is  better  to 
never  poison  the  system  and  subject  its  elements  to 
such  a  test"? 

The  issue  in  this  campaign  is  not  a  question  of 
total  abstinence.  I  stand  before  you  to-night  a  total 
abstainer.  In  my  own  state  we  have  thousands  of 
total  abstainers  who  are  prohibitionists.  We  have 
hundreds  of  prohibitionists  who  are  drinkers. 

The  ex-chief  justice  of  my  own  state,  one  of  the 
ablest  criminal  lawyers  On  this  continent — learned, 
logical  and  eloquent;  a  man  whose  hatred  for  the 
dramshop  is  so  intense  he  can  hardly  find  language 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  83 

to  express  it,  is  a  man  who  used  to  drink  wine,  and 
I  think  he  does  yet.  When  you  talk  to  him  in  re- 
gard to  total  abstinence,  he  says,  "That  is  an  indi- 
vidual matter."  When  you  talk  to  him  in  regard  to 
the  American  saloon,  he  says,  "That  is  a  question 
of  government." 

The  man  who  drinks  liquor  may  love  his  home; 
the  man  who  uses  liquor  may  love  his  wife ;  the  man 
who  uses  liquor  may  love  his  child;  and  the  man 
who  abstains  may  do  the  same  thing.  In  this  cam- 
paign, and  on  this  issue  of  home  and  family,  they 
are  one ;  and  if  the  liquor  traffic  is  proved  to  be  the 
enemy  of  home  and  family,  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  drinker  should  not  stand  with  the  abstainer  in 
favor  of  this  amendment. 

This  question  of  the  prohibition  of  the  alcoholic 
liquor  traffic  is  in  no  sense  a  question  of  individual 
morality  or  individual  abstinence  any  more  than 
the  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  rotten  beef  is  a  ques- 
tion of  the  prohibition  of  eating  it,  or  the  prohibi- 
tion of  the  sale  of  bad  milk  a  question  of  drinking 
it.  The  one  implies  the  protection  extended  by  a 
state  to  society  as  a  whole,  the  other  implies  the  in- 
dividual action  based  on  a  man's  judgment  and  con- 
scientiousness. 

It  may  be  best  for  us  to  look  for  a  moment  at  this 
proposition,  because  the  opposition  will  almost  surely 
endeavor  to  drag  these  two"  distinct  lines  of  work  to- 
gether, and  endeavor  to  whip  out  of  the  prohibition 
ranks  all  men  who  drink.  On  the  propositions 


84        THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

underlying  the  temperance  reform  in  this  country 
all  men  are  agreed. 

There  has  hardly  been  a  session  of  the  Brewers' 
Congress  or  the  Distillers'  Union  in  this  land,  in  the 
past  twenty  years,  that  has  not  resolved  against  the 
•evils  of  intemperance.  On  the  primary  propositions 
that  these  evils  exist  all  classes  agree.  The  only 
question  is  the  question  of  remedy. 

The  theory  of  the  prohibitionist  is  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  state  to  make  it  just  as  easy  to  do  right, 
and  just  as  difficult  to  do  wrong,  as  possible ;  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  make  the  road  up  to  man- 
hood and  honor  as  smooth  as  possible ;  to  plant  along 
the  side  of  the  road  the  flowers  of  hope  and  promise 
and  of  public  approbation.  Then  into  the  road  down 
to  licentiousness,  and  vice,  and  crime,  and  infamy, 
and  death,  roll  the  rocks  of  law,  hedge  it  with  the 
brambles  of  public  opinion  and  the  briars  of  public 
condemnation,  and  then  place  the  citizen  at  the 
cross-roads  and  say  to  him,  "  Take  your  choice."  The 
state  can  never  enter  there  and  say  you  must  go 
this  way  and  shall  not  go  the  other.  It  will  simply 
make  the  road  to  manhood  broad  and  the  road  to 
disgrace  disagreeable,  and  allow  the  young  man 
standing  at  the  entrance  of  the  two  paths  to  choose 
which  he  will  journey  in.  He  can  go  to  heaven  if  he 
will,  or  he  can  go  to  the  devil  if  he  will.  In  the  way  of 
his  free  moral  agency  the'state  can  never  come  until 
by  his  individual  action  he  injures  others.  At  this 
starting  point  the  moral  suasion  organizations  come, 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  85 

to  persuade,  to  convince  that  it  is  best  for  him 
to  go  the  better  way.  The  state  simply  steps  in 
to  prevent  temptation,  leaving  the  free  will  of  the 
individual  untrammelled,  while  the  work  of  the 
.  moral  suasion  society  is  to  show  the  individual  what 
is  right  and  what  is  wrong. 

Take  another  view:  Intemperance,  as  it  is  known 
to  the  people  of  this  state,  is  known  to  the  scien- 
tific world  as  alcoholism,  or  dipsomania.  Better 
knoAvn  to  the  American  physician,  the  English  phy- 
sician, the  French  physician  than  any  other  form  of 
chronic  poisoning.  The  prohibitionist  says:  "The 
same  rules  of  common-sense  should  be  applied  in 
the  treatment  of  this  disease  that  are  applied  in 
the  treatment  of  other  diseases."  The  only  cure 
for  the  man  who  has  the  small -pox — you  know  some- 
thing of  this  disease  from  the  terrible  scare  which 
swept  over  the  country  last  winter — is  the  ^treat- 
ment of  kindness,  nursing  and  doctoring.  It  does 
no  good  to  pound  a  man  on  the  head  with  a  club  who 
has  the  small-pox.  It  would  do  him  no  good  to  put 
him  in  the  "cooler,"  or  to  put  him  on  a  rock  pile. 
The. only  way  to  treat  a  sick  man  is  to  treat  him 
with  care  and  scientific  treatment.  The  people  use 
these  common-sense  rules  for  treatment  of  small- 
pox— treatment  for  the  sick,  vaccination  for  the  well, 
quarantine  for  the  disease.  In  the  temperance 
movement  the  temperance  societies  adopt  the  same 
methods.  The  pledge  is  vaccination.  If  it  does 
not  take  the  first  time  they  vaccinate  over  again, 


SC    THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

and  keep  on  vaccinating  until  it  works.  Last  spring, 
when  it  was  reported  that  small-pox  was  spreading 
from  every  part  of  the  country,  there  was  heard  a 
universal  demand  for  the  interference  of  govern- 
ment, not  with  the  idea  that  the  hand  of  govern- 
ment could  cure  those  men  who  were  sick,  but  with 
the  idea  that  the  hand  of  government,  through  that 
power  known  as  the  police  power  of  the  state,  could 
keep  the  disease  within  certain  limits  and  protect 
those  who  were  well. 

The  state  of  Iowa  has  adopted  this  theory. 

Section  4039  of  your  statutes  reads: 

"If  any  person  inoculate  himself  or  any  other 
person  or  suffer  himself  to  be  inoculated  with  small- 
pox within  this  state,  or  come  within  this  state 
with  the  intent  to  cause  the  prevalence  or  spread, 
etc.,"  he  shall  be  imprisoned  and  fined.  The  state 
does  not  say  people  shall  not  catch  the  small-pox, 
but  the  state  will  make  it  as  difficult  to  catch  it 
as  possible.  The  love,  care  and  kindness  shown  to 
the  patients  sick  with  contagious  disease  is  moral 
suasion ;  the  red  flag  thrown  out  in  front  of  the  house, 
the  strong  hand  of  quarantine,  is  prohibition.  This 
prohibition  is  of  the  state.  If  this  system  is  sensi- 
ble with  other  diseases,  the  same  system  should  be 
applied  to  this  widespread  disease  of  intemperance. 

Yellow-fever  swept  up  the  Mississippi  and  located 
&t  Memphis.  The  second  year,  within  twenty-four 
hours  after  the  time  it  appeared  in  Memphis,  every 
<rity  which  had  communication  with  that  -city 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  87 

had  quarantined  against  it;  they  stopped  the  pas- 
sage of  merchandise,  and  even  stopped  the  passage 
of  United  States  mails  from  the  city  until  disin- 
fected. Why  did  they  do  this?  They  could  not 
legislate  the  poor  fellows  well  who  had  the  yellow- 
fever,  but  they  could  legislate  them  into  a  quaran- 
tine to  prevent  other  people  from  catching  it. 

Twenty-one  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  people  in  this  country  died  from  yellow-fever 
in  the  last  ten  years.  Take  that  number,  think  of 
it — 21,384!  Does  any  man  say  it  was  wrong  to 
quarantine  Memphis,  though  it  destroyed  merchan- 
dise, though  it  destroyed  business,  though  it  wrecked 
the  whole  city?  No;  it  was  right!  The  disease  of 
alcoholism,  during  the  same  time,  has  killed  more 
than  650,000  American  citizens.  This  is  not  the 
statement  of  a  temperance  lecturer- — it  is  the  state- 
ment of  Willard  Parker,  the  first  surgeon  of  this 
country.  It  is  the  statement  of  N.  J3.  Davis,  the 
celebrated  physician  of  your  own  state,  and  it  is  the 
statement  of  every  doctor  in  this  country  who  is  tall 
enough  in  his  profession  to  be  seen  over  three  coun- 
ties. And  yet  the  drunkard-makers  object  to  quar- 
antine. Alcoholism  has  killed  650,000,  and  there 
are  men  in  this  audience,  I  presume,  with  these 
facts  before  them,  who  have  been  so  mistaken  that 
they  have  voted  to  license  a  man  to  take  the  seeds  of 
this  terrible  disease  in  his  hands  and  sow  them 
among  the  boys  and  girls  of  this  country.  Yellow- 
fever  has  ruined  less  men,  less  women  and  less  chil- 


88        THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

dren  in  Memphis  than  alcoholism  has  in  the  state  of 
Illinois.  The  one  is  prohibited,  the  other  licensed. 

While  the  churches  and  the  moral  suasion  organi- 
zations go  down  to  the  gutter  after  the  sick  drunk- 
ard, while  they  endeavor  to  cure  his  sick  body  by 
scientific  treatment,  and  his  sick  soul  by  the  grace 
of  God,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  do  away  with 
these  places,  to  destroy  the  trade  which  incessantly 
turns  out  these  sick  men  and  keeps  the  supply  con- 
stant, and  forces  this  work  through  the  years  and  on 
through  the  ages. 

The  question  in  regard  to  state  action  is  not  the 
question  of  what  the  treatment  of  the  individual 
shall  be.  It  is  simply  the  question  of  what  is  the 
duty  of  the  state,  what  is  the  power  of  the  state  to 
restrain,  to  prevent  the  spread  of  this  fearfully  con- 
tagious disease. 

The  whole  question  before  the  people  of  Iowa  dur- 
ing the  next  sixty  days  is  not,  Are  you  a  Democrat? 
Are  you  a  Republican  ?  not  Are  you  a  Presbyterian  ? 
or  a  brother-in-law  of  the  Methodist  church,  as  I 
am?  not  are  you  a  drinker  or  an  abstainer?  Not 
what  is  your  individual  convictions  in  regard  to  the 
use  of  liquors,  but  what  is  the  effect  of  the  American 
dramshop  on  the  best  interests  of  the  state?  This  is 
the  sole  issue  in  this  campaign.  Everything  else  is 
subterfuge, — is  thrown  in  to  deceive,  and  every  per- 
son who  endeavors  to  prevent  the  people  from  con- 
sidering this  primary  question  is  working  in  the 
interests  of  the  liquor  men. 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.^  89 

I  was  through  the  canvass  in  Kansas.  The  same 
issue  was  presented  there,  and  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  the  fight  I  never  heard  the  liquor  men 
meet  the  issue  squarely  and  fairly  on  its  merits. 

The  whole  question  to  be  tried  is  simply,  What  is 
the  relation  of  the  liquor  traffic  to  society  in  this 
state  ?  That  much  and  no  more.  I  am  well  aware 
that  when  you  have  reached  this  point,  when  you 
have  arraigned  the  liquor  interest  on  its  record  and 
insist  it  shall  come  into  court  and  plead  to  the  indict- 
ment, that  it  will  at  once  move  to  quash  the  indict- 
ment on  certain  specious  sophistries.  One  will  be 
this :  that  this  institution  is  an  old  institution ;  that 
the  state  is  composed  of  people  who  have  come  from 
different  countries  and  different  nationalities;  that 
the  German  having  come  from  his  fatherland  has 
the  right  to  bring  here  the  customs  of  his  father- 
land; that  the  Irishman  coming  from  the  evergreen 
isle  has  the  right  to  bring  the  customs  of  that  coun- 
try here. 

Let  us  look  at  this  position  for  a  moment,  the  posi- 
tion that  is  everywhere  held  and  urged  by  the  liquor 
men  of  this  country.  Let  us  examine  whether  this 
idea  is  in  harmony  with  the  primary  principles  of 
government.  Political  institutions  are  the  outgrowth 
of  social  customs,  not  social  customs  the  outgrowth 
of  political  institutions.  Society  is  built  from  the 
bottom,  not  from  the  top.  The  home  comes  first; 
then  families  assemble  and  you  have  a  village ;  vil- 
lages and  you  have  a  township;  townships  and  you 


90        THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

have  a  county;  counties  and  you  have  a  state;  and, 
in  this  country,  states,  and  you  have  a  nation.  All 
political  customs  grow  out  of  social  life.  The  politi- 
cal customs  of  this  country  are  the  legitimate  chil- 
dren of  the  social  customs  and  life  of  the  founders  of 
the  government,  of  the  men  who  made  our  liberties 
and  our  institutions  possible. 

If  I  ever  get  mad  in  my  life,  it  is  when  I  hear 
men  born  in  other  countries,  together  with  dirty 
dough-faced  American  demagogues,  sneering  at  the 
Puritans,  and  ridiculing  puritanical  moials  and 
ideas.  No  man  has  greater  respect  for  the  good 
traits  of  our  foreign-born  citizens  than  myself,  but 
I  believe  that  a  native-born  American  is  as  good  as 
a  foreign-born  American,  as  long  as  his  life  and  con- 
duct are  as  good;  and  I  most  earnestly  protest,  in 
free  America,  against  the  beer  smut-mill  being  turned 
on  the  men  who  planted  our  liberties,  and  suffered 
and  died  to  perpetuate  them.  A  few  American 
sneaks,  in  order  to  catch  the  beer  vote,  enter  the 
cemetery  where  America's  noblest  dead  are  buried, 
desecrate  the  graves  and  attempt  to  defile  the  memory 
of  those  who  built  the  government  and  established 
the  liberties  under  which  these  ghouls  live.  Who 
were  these  Puritans  who  are  now  made  a  by-word 
and  jest  by  the  beer-guzzlers  of  this  country?  What 
did  they  come  to  America  for?  What  kind  of  a 
country  did  they  find?  Britain's  poetess  answers: 

"  The  breaking  waves  dashed  high 
On  a  stern  and  rock-bound  coast, 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  91 

And  the  woods  against  a  stormy  sky 

Their  giant  branches  tossed; 

And  the  heavy  night  hung  dark 

The  hills  and  waters  o'er, 

When  a  band  of  exiles  moored  their  bark 

On  the  wild  New  England  shore. 

Not  as  the  conqueror  comes, 

They,  the  true-hearted,  came; 

Not  with  the  roll  of  the  stirring  drums, 

And  the  trumpet  that  sings  of  fame: 

Not  as  the  flying  come, 

In  silence  and  in  fear; — 

They  shook  the  depths  of  the  desert  gloom 

With  their  hymns  of  lofty  cheer. 

Amidst  the  storm  they  sang, 

And  the  stars  heard,  and  the  sea; 

And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 

To  the  anthems  of  the  free. 

The  ocean  eagle  soared 

From  his  nest  by  the  white  wave's  foam, 

And  the  rocking  pines  of  the  forest  roared — 

This  was  their  welcome  home. 

There  were  men  with  hoary  hair 

Amidst  that  pilgrim-band: 

Why  had  they  come  to  wither  there, 

Away  from  their  childhood's  land? 

There  was  woman's  fearless  eye, 

Lit  by  her  deep  love's  truth; 

There  was  manhood's  brow  serenely  high, 

And  the  fiery  heart  of  youth. 

What  sought  they  thus  afar? 

Bright  jewels  of  the  mine? 

The  wealth  of  seas,  the  spoils  of  war? — 

They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine! 

Ay,  call  it  holy  ground, 

The  soil  where  first  they  trod; 

They  have  left  unstained  what  there  they  found, — 

Freedom  to  worship  God." 


92    THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Such  was  their  coming,  and  such  the  motives 
which  led  them  to  leave  the  Old  World  and  its  com- 
forts for  the  unknown  New.  By  struggle  and  toil, 
through  disease  and  suffering,  they  developed  the 
land  and  planted  the  ideas  of  liberty  in  their 
descendants.  Their  theories  of  liberty  and  morals 
were  developed  by  their  children. 

Who  died  at  Lexington?  Whose  blood  wet  the 
ground  at  Bunker  Hill  ?  Whose  breast  was  in  front 
of  British  bullets  at  Brandywine  and  Germantown  ? 
Who  starved  at  Valley  Forge? 

Through  blood  the  land  was  made  free.  What 
was  then  done?  Did  Americans  close  the  doors  of 
the  Eepublic  and  say,  "We  are  free;  let  the  world 
take  care  of  itself.  "  No!  They  welcomed  the 
down-trodden  of  all  nations.  Immigrants  have  not 
been  asked  to  come  as  alien  paupers.  They  have 
been  received  as  brothers  and  made  members  of  the 
family.  After  all  this,  for  these  refugees  from  the 
despotisms  of  Europe  to  attempt  to  destroy  Ameri- 
can customs  by  traducing  American  dead,  is  dis- 
graceful. If  they  came  here  to  be  Americans  they 
are  welcome,  but  if  they  prefer  European  ideas  and 
customs,  and  the  governments  which  those  ideas  and 
customs  have  produced,  a  ticket  from  New  York  to 
Europe  will  cost  little  more  than  a  ticket  from 
Europe  to  New  York,  and  they  are  free  to  go. 
Americans  are  satisfied  with  American  institutions 
and  American  liberties. 

This   government  is  the  child  of  that  morality, 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  93 

that  theory  of  religious  liberty,  that  theory  of  gov- 
ernmental life  which  was  taught  by  the  men  who 
settled  and  developed  the  colonies;  while  on  the 
contrary  the  German  despotism  of  to-day  is  the 
legitimate  child  of  the  German  social  life  and  Ger- 
man social  customs.  Whenever  the  people  in  this 
country  destroy  American  social  customs  and  Ameri- 
can social  life,  whenever  the  people  drift  away  from 
the  rocks  on  which  the  forefathers  founded  this  gov- 
ernment, into  the  seas  where  despotisms  have  floated, 
whenever  American  customs  cease  and  the  customs 
of  despotic  Europe  take  their  place,  this  govern- 
ment had  better  order  its  grave-clothes,  and  invite 
in-  the  mourners.  America,  as  a  republic,  can  only 
live  while  the  customs  that  made  it  a  republic  live. 
This  theory  of  government  can  only  continue  while 
the  social  life  that  developed  it  continues.  When  a 
different  form  of  social  life,  a*  different  form  of  social 
thought,  a  different  form  of  social  teaching,  a  differ- 
ent form  of  moral  training  comes  in,  I  have  no  hope 
for  the  government. 

Suppose  I  could  to-night  take  a  hundred  thousand 
native-born  Americans  and,  with  a  motion  of  the 
hand,  plant  them  over  in  the  German  empire,  would 
not  Von  Bismarck  have  a  lively  time  taking  care  of 
them?  Why?  Because  their  training  in  their 
•mothers'  arms,  their  training  in  the  cradle,  their 
training  in  the  primary  school,  in  the  graded 
school,  in  the  academy,  in  the  university,  has  all 
developed  a  different  line  of  thought,  a  different 


94:         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

theory  of  government,  a  different  theory  of  respon- 
sibility, from  that  developed  by  the  German 
social  life,  the  German  social  customs,  and  the  Ger- 
man schools.  The  idea  that  because  customs  have 
lived  in  another  country,  been  developed  in  another 
form  of  government,  that  they  must  of  right  be 
allowed  to  continue  here,  is  an  utterly  fallacious  one. 

Suppose  before  the  missionaries  went  to  the 
Fiji  islands,  a  man  from  that  island,  had  drifted 
over  and  located  in  the  city  of  Des  Moines. — You 
recollect  that  the  Fiji  islanders  were  cannibals. 
Four  missionaries  went  there  the  first  time.  They 
preached  the  first  time  and  then  the  natives  got 
mad,  killed  three  of  them,  roasted  and  ate  them. 
The  other  one  they  didn't  eat  because  he  chewed 
tobacco.  I  admire  their  taste. — Well,  before  that 
period,  suppose  this  Fiji  Islander  had  come.  Now, 
he  is  a  different  man  from  you.  His  teeth  are  dif- 
ferent, his  head  is  especially  different.  He  has 
different  passions,  different  appetites,  different  ideas. 
For  a  time  he  restrains  his  inclinations,  but  at  last, 
,the  old  appetite  in  him  being  aroused,  he  makes  a 
raid  on  your  home,  catches  your  fat  baby  boy,  kills 
him,  dresses  him,  cooks  him,  and  puts  him  on  the 
table  for  a  meal.  You  get  your  shotgun  and  go  up 
to  interview  him.  Don't  kill  him  on  sight.  When 
you  see  what  he  is  doing,  you  say:  "  What  have  you 
done?" 

"  Why,"  he  says,   "nothing,  only  killed  a  boy." 

"But  you  have  committed  murder." 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  95 

He  says,   "  I  do  not  understand." 

"  Why,  you  have  killed  this  child.  You  had  no 
right  to  kill  him.  You  have  no  right  to  do  what 
you  are  doing." 

"  I  thought  this  was  a  free  country!"  he  exclaims. 

"  It  is  a  free  country,  but  it  is  not  a  free  country  to 
commit  murder  in." 

"  But,"  he  says,  "  I  used  to  eat  babies  over  in  the 
Fiji  islands  Have  not  I  got  the  right  to  eat  them 
here?" 

What  would  be  the  answer?  "Sir,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  not  the  government  of 
the  Fiji  islands.  Your  social  customs  have  devel- 
oped your  form  of  government,  our  social  customs 
have  developed  our  form  of  government.  When 
you  leave  that  government  you  must  leave  every 
custom  that  is  inimical  to  this  government  or 
destructive  to  its  institutions,  for  we  have  no  desire 
to  have  introduced  here  the  customs  that  propagated 
the  governments  of  your  native  island." 

Suppose  the  ei-khedive  of  Egypt,  when  he  was 
deposed,  instead  of  moving  to  Italy,  had  moved  over 
here  with  his  wives  and  children  and  gone  to  house- 
keeping in  Des  Moines.  An  officer  takes  him  by 
the  shoulder  and  says,  "  Hold  on,  sir!  what  are  you 
doing?" 

"  I  am  keeping  house." 

"  You  are  my  prisoner." 

"What  for?" 

"  Bigamy." 


96         THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOB  TRAFFIC/ 

"What  is  bigamy?" 

"  Having  more  than  one  wife." 

"  I  thought  this  was  a  free  country!" 

"It  is." 

"  I  used  to  have  these  wives  in  Egypt.  Have  not 
I  the  right  to  have  them  here  ?" 

What  would  you  say  to  him?  "  Sir,  this  govern- 
ment is  a  different  government  from  the  government 
of  Egypt.  This  government  is  a  product  of  our 
social  institutions.  Consequently  when  you  come  to 
this  country  you  must  leave  every  custom  that  would 
be  injurious  to  the  welfare  of  this  country  and  the 
perpetuity  of  this  government. "  The  idea  that  Ameri- 
can freedom  means  universal  license  is  the  danger- 
ous idea  in  this  country. 

-  In  my  state  a  young  woman  recently  from  Europe 
was  brought  into  our  court  charged  with  the  murder 
of  her  infant  child.  When  the  indictment  was  read, 
and  she  was  asked,  through  an  interpreter,  to  plead, 
her  answer  was:  "I  thought  this  was  a  free  country." 

The  idea  that  this  country  has  no  form,  no  customs, 
no  laws,  no  institutions,  which  immigrants  are  bound 
to  respect,  that  men  have  the  right  to  come  here  and 
follow  any  customs,  any  ideas,  any  theories,  and  any 
practices,  is  an  idea  utterly  antagonistic  to  American 
institutions,  and  if  carried  out  will  ultimately  build 
on  the  chaos  of  our  liberties  the  worst  despotism 
that  the  world  ever  saw. 

At  the  birth  of  this  government,  the  institutions 
of  the  colonies  were  the  institutions  of  a  monarchy 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  97 

in  a  modified  form.  The  men  who  settled  at  Ply- 
mouth Bock  were  men  who  had  given  up,  in  a  meas- 
ure, their  old  ideas  and  theories,  and  a  new  social 
system  had  been  slowly  developing.  This  change 
ultimately  developed  a  social  life  that  would  not 
'endure  even  the  limited  monarchy  of  Great  Britain. 
When  the  United  States  came  into  existence  as  a 
nation,  they  were  a  long  way  from  having  republican 
institutions.  The  American  leaders  were  not 
destructionists,  they  were  reformers. 

The  difference  between  the  French  and  American 
revolutions  was  this — the  Americans  simply  wished 
to  tear  down  the  building  of  a  monarchy,  to  take 
out  of  it  all  the  material  they  could  use  in  another 
form  of  government,  while  the  French  endeavored 
to  destroy  and  build  wholly  new. 

The  work  of  American  statesmen  for  the  first 
hundred  years  of  this  republic,  has  been  the  work  of 
changing,  adjusting  and  trying.  Look!  see  what 
changes  have  been  made.  Examine  the  law;  you 
could  hardly  recognize  it  as  the  child  of  the  law  in 
existence  when  the  colonies  became  free.  The  old 
theory  was  that  the  king  received  his  authority  from 
God,  that  he  stood  in  the  relation  of  God  to  the 
people ;  with  the  destruction  of  that  idea,  the  indi- 
vidual became  the  sovereign,  and  the  ruler,  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  people.  The  result  of  this  was  a 
change  in  law  in  accordance  with  the  change  in  ideas. 
The  old  theory  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  to  rule 
the  people  developed  the  theory  of  the  divine  right 


98         THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

of  the  husband  to  rule  the  wife.  The  old  marriage 
forms — every  one  of  them — contained  a  clause  stipu- 
lating that  the  wife  should  obey  the  husband.  If  I 
had  been  young  at  that  time,  and  one  of  the  ladies 
here  had  also  been  young,  worth  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars in  bonds,  notes  and  real  estate,  and  married  me, 
by  the  act  of  marriage  (unless  her  property  had 
been  entailed  upon  her  and  her  children)  every  dol- 
lar would  have  become  mine.  I  could  have  spent 
it  or  gambled  it  away,  and  she  could  not  have  pre- 
vented me  by  other  means  than  love  or  the  broom- 
stick. The  old  law  has  been  changed,  and  shaped 
and  polished  until  to-day,  in  my  state,  if  I  wanted 
my  wife's  money,  the  only  way  I  could  get  it  would 
be  to  persuade  her  to  give  it  to  me.  She  can  buy 
and  sell  property,  and  transact  business  in  her  own 
name;  and  next  November  many  of  Nebraska's  voters 
will  say  that  the  women  of  the  state  have  the  same 
right  to  a  voice  in  the  government  under  which  they 
live  that  the  men  have.  This  is  the  legitimate  result 
of  a  change  of  customs  from  a  monarchy  to  the 
broader  idea  of  a  democracy,  founded  upon  the 
morality  and  intelligence  of  the  people. 

The  founders  of  the  republic  recognized  the  fact 
that  the  foundation  of  universal  liberty  must  be 
universal  education.  At  the  birth  of  this  govern- 
ment the  schools  of  America  were  private  schools, 
but  the  necessity  of  making  the  citizen-sovereign 
intelligent,  developed  our  free  school  system.  All 
the  institutions  that  America  inherited  have  been 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES.  99 

molded,  shaped  and  developed.  Among  these 
inherited  institutions  was  the  accursed  drinking- 
place.  The  dram-shop  is  not  a  child  of  American 
customs,  liberty,  ideas,  schools  or  theories.  It  was 
inherited  from  the  despotic  governments  of  Europe. 
At  the  laying  of  the  foundation  of  the  government 
there  were  men  who  openly  denied  that  it  should  be 
allowed  to  continue  in  the  new  structure. 

Those  who  favored  a  compromise  were  in  a  major- 
ity. They  said:  it  will  not  be  fair  to  reject  this 
liquor  traffic  until  it  has  been  tried  in  the  new  form 
of  government.  They  prevailed,  and  it  has  been 
tried. 

Its  results  have  been  the  same  as  in  Europe — 
drunkenness,  debauchery,  vice,  crime,  riot,  commun- 
ism. In  the  rich  soil  and  genial  climate  of  our  govern- 
ment it  bore  fruit  early,  and  in  1676  the  government 
of  Virginia  found  it  necessary  to  protect  the  people 
from  the  multitude  of  evils  resultant  from  the  traffic 
and  the  conditions  favorable  to  its  development.  As 
increasing  population,  seconded  by  wise  statesman- 
ship, has  enlarged  the  nation's  borders,  it  has  grown 
with  our  growth  and  increased  with  our  strength; 
only  crippled  where  persistent  prohibitory  efforts 
have  made  the  conditions  for  its  development  unfa- 
vorable. The  evil  has  long  been  admitted  by  all, 
and  a  persistent  effort  to  remedy  it  has  been  made 
by  a  few.  Compromise  has  followed  compromise, 
the  unrestrained  sale,  license,  high  license,  civil 
damage,  local  option ;  and  I  wish  to  assert  in  the 


100      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

light  of  history  that  all  these  compromises  have  been 
failures,  to  just  the  extent  that  principle  has  been 
sacrificed ;  and  successes  to  just  the  extent  that  right 
has  been  recognized  and  prohibitory  features  incor- 
porated into  their  text.  Thus  this  institution  has  been 
tested  and  found  unworthy  of  a  place  in  a  free 
republic.  It  is  an  enemy  of  American  liberties  and 
must  be  destroyed. 
Then: 

"There  shall  be  sung  another  golden  age; 

The  rise  of  empire  and  of  arts, 
The  good  and  great  inspiring  epic  rage, 
The  wisest  heads  and  noblest  hearts — 

NOT  SUCH  AS  EUEOPE  BKEEDS  IN  HEB  DECAY, 

Such  as  she  bred  when  fresh  and  young, 
When  heavenly  flame  did  animate  her  clay, 

By  future  poets  shall  be  sung. 
Westward  the  course  of  Empire  takes  its  way; 

The  first  four  acts  already  past, 
The  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day; 

Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last" 


IV. 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND 
DEFENSE. 


DELIVERED    AT    MOORE'S    OPERA    HOUSE,    DBS   MOINE8, 
IOWA,    APRIIT23,    1882. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  DBS  MOINES:  I  came 
to  your  state  at  the  request  of  the  old  prohibition 
corps  of  the  temperance  army,  the  Good  Templars, 
who  have  fought  on  this  line  since  1852,  to  discuss 
with  you  the  question  of  what  is  the  best  course  for 
the  people  to  pursue  with  the  alcoholic  liquor  traffic 
of  your  state.  Your  legislature  has  submitted  this 
question  to  you,  voters — I  would  God  the  question 
could  have  been  submitted  to  every  one  who  suffers 
from  the  accursed  influence,  or  whose  heart  is  bleed- 
ing from  its  direful  effects.  The  provisions  of  our 
American  constitution  are  such  that  men  above  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years  must  settle  this  question, 
while  the  great  class  who  suffer  most  from  the  evil 
influences,  of  the  liquor  traffic — the  women  of  the 
country — are  debarred  from  expressing  their  opinion 

in  rendering  the  final   verdict.     I  would  that  this 

101 


102      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

were  not  so,  but  as  it  is  submitted  to  the  voters  of 
this  commonwealth,  you,  as  voters,  must  settle  the 
question.  The  day  has  passed  when  a  man  can 
afford  to  laugh,  to  sneer  or  to  jeer  at  this  question. 
As  citizens  of  the  state,  bound  by  the  highest  obli- 
gations of  a  Christian  civilization, — home,  and  love 
of  country,  you  are  to  take  the  question  without  pas- 
sion, without  prejudice,  without  bitterness,  and  fully 
consider  it  in  all  its  phases.  If  I  could  at  the  out- 
set of  this  campaign,  by  any  trick  of  sophistry,  by 
any  power  of  personal  magnetism,  lead  every  man 
in  this  state  to  shout  for  prohibition,  without  his 
judgment,  his  reason,  his  conscience  telling  him  that 
he  did  right,  I  would  not  do  it.  This  question  is 
one  that  must  be  settled  calmly  and  dispassionately. 
The  saloon  of  this  state  must  be  weighed  in  the  bal- 
ance of  political  economy,  of  social  life,  and  it  must 
be  weighed,  not  by  prejudiced  men,  not  by  bitter 
men,  not  by  unfair  men,  but  by  jurors  willing  to 
consider  every  phase  of  the  question,  and  then  to 
render  their  verdict  according  to  the  facts. 

To-night  let  us  look  at  the  liquor  traffic  of  this 
country  in  its  relations  to  society  and  its  best  in- 
terests; then,  as  you  go  from  this  hall,  weigh  the 
facts  as  I  state  them,  and  if  your  judgment  tells 
you  they  are  facts,  if  your  judgment  tells  you 
they  are  correct,  act  upon  them.  If  your  judg- 
ment tells  you  my  reasoning  is  incorrect,  reject  it. 
I  would  not  think  much  of  you  if  you  would  accept 
something  as  true  because  I  said  it  was  true.  I 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       103 

would  not  think  much  of  you  if  you  would  reject 
what  I  said,  simply  because  a  temperance  man  said 
it.  You  are  moral,  responsible,  intelligent,  cultured 
men  and  you  must  take  the  statements  and  weigh 
them  in  the  scales  of  your  own  judgment,  your  own 
experience,  your  own  intelligence,  and  then  make 
up  your  minds  whether  they  are  true  or  whether 
they  are  false.  The  power  of  the  liquor  traffic  of 
to-day  for  great  good  or  great  evil  to  the  common- 
wealth cannot  be  doubted.  The  immense  number 
of  these  institutions,  the  large  number  of  men 
engaged  in  the  business  of  selling  liquor,  the  great 
capital  invested  in  the  manufacture  and  in  the  insti- 
tutions where  liquor  is  sold,  makes  the  business 
capable  of  doing  great  good  or  great  evil  to  any  city, 
county,  state,  or  nation  where  it  is  permitted  to  exist. 

That  this  capacity  is  always  exercised  in  the  direc- 
tion of  evil  is  scarcely  deniable.  No  man  dare  dis- 
pute the  pernicious  influence  of  the  grog-shops  of 
this  country. 

A  few  weeks  ago  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean 
described  a  certain  section  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
which  it  called  "the  Black  Hole."  Many  of  you 
saw  the  description.  It  declared  that  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  city  the  vicious  elements  completely  con- 
trolled; vice  and  crime,  licentiousness,  debauchery 
and  lewdness  were  the  governing  factors  and  the  con- 
trolling interests.  A  few  days  later  the  same  news- 
paper published  a  diagram  of  the  streets  of  the  city 
where  "the  Black  Hole"  was  located.  Suppose 


104   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC, 

that  to-night  I  should  draw  on  this  curtain  the  same 
diagram.  Suppose,  further,  that;  you  did  not  see  the 
Inter-Ocean,  nor  the  article.  After  I  have  drawn 
this  diagram  I  take  the  Inter -Ocean  in  my  hands, 
and,  standing  before  you,  I  read  the  description  of 
the  locality,  studiously  omitting  the  names  of  the 
places,  the  kind  of  business  carried  on  there,  and 
only  speaking  of  the  moral  and  social  condition  of 
the  people.  After  I  have  read  that  description,  my 
license  friend,  if  you  are  in  this  house,  I  want  you 
to  tell  me  what  kind  of  institutions  are  located  along 
those  streets;  what  institutions  will  produce  such 
condition  of  things. 

Suppose  I  told  you  that  on  the  first  corner  was  a 
Methodist  church,  then  from  there  down  to  the  next 
corner  it  was  blocked  solidly  with  dry-goods  houses. 
At  the  bottom  of  that  street  the  Presbyterian  church 
is  located,  and  across  the  other  side  are  retail  houses. 
Then  there  is  a  Baptist  church,  and  on  the  other  side 
are  manufactories — in  other  words,  I  tell  you  that 
that  section  of  the  city  is  filled  with  churches,  with 
schools,  with  missions  and  with  business  places.  My 
license  friend,  would  not  you  say  my  statement  could 
not  be  true  ?  Is  it  possible  for  such  a  state  of  things 
to  exist  where  any  respectable  business  exists? 
Then  let  me  ask  you,  my  license  friend,  to  tell  me 
what  kind  of  business  you  think  is  transacted  along 
those  streets  ?  Why,  you  would  answer  in  a  minute, 
if  you  were  honest,  "grog-shops  and  their  children, 
gambling  hells  and  houses  of  ill-fame — the  last  two 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       105 

the  children  of  the  first — infest  those  streets."  That 
is  the  kind  of  institutions  the  Inter-Ocean  says  are 
there. 

A  few  years  ago — these  older  men  among  the  min- 
isters here  will  remember — the  metropolitan  press 
of  the  city  of  New  York  turned  the  public  gaze  upon 
a  section  of  that  city  where  the  same  evils  existed, 
and  when  the  public  looked  at  the  streets  where  this 
horrible  state  of.  things  existed,  what  did  they  see? 
Did  they  see  churches,  schools  and  business  that 
produced  legitimate  results  and  honorable  citizens? 
No!  The  center  of  Five  Points  was  an  old  brewery, 
and  every  street  radiating  from  that  brewery  was 
crowded  with  grog-shops  and  their  attendant  insti- 
tutions where  liquor  was  sold  and  humanity  debased. 
When  the  Christian  element  of  the  city  wished  to 
elevate  Five  Points,  the  very  first  thing  they  did, 
was  to  buy  the  old  brewery  and  change  it  into  a  city 
mission. 

When  Christianity  came,  the  devil  packed  up  his 
pet  institution  to  a  certain  extent  and  moved  over  to 
Water  street,  and  then  Water  street  became  the 
worst  section  of  the  city.  The  vicious  element  fol- 
lowed the  dramshop. 

Last  September,  one  of  the  great  newspapers  of 
the  city  of  Chicago  arraigned  Mayor  Carter  Harri- 
son for  not  revoking  the  license  of  a  certain  saloon- 
keeper. The  paper  charged  that  this  man  had 
repeatedly  violated  the  law,  and  insisted  that  the 
mayor  should  have  revoked  the  license,  and  that  his 


106   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOE  TRAFFIC. 

failure  to  act  was  his  fear  of  injuring  his  political 
interests.  Mayor  Harrison,  talking  to  a  reporter, 
said  that  the  accusation  of  the  paper,  so  far  as  the 
guilt  of  the  saloon-keeper  and  the  failure  to  revoke 
the  license,  was  true;  but  he  said  he  allowed  that 
saloon  to  continue  because  it  was  a  resort  of  thieves ; 
it  was  a  trap  where  the  policemen  knew  how  to  find 
criminals  and  catch  them,  and  he  allowed  it  to  con- 
tinue simply  for  this  reason.  Would  he  keep  a 
church  open  as  a  trap  for  criminals? 

I  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York,  where  the 
farmers  plow  the  land  on  three  sides — top  and  two 
sides.  One  time,  while  a  boy,  an  old  gentleman  in 
our  neighborhood  came  to  me  and  said:  "See  here! 
do  you  want  to  go  and  hunt  foxes  with  me  to- 
morrow?" I  said  "yes."  The  next  morning  he 
came  with  the  hounds ;  I  had  my  gun  ready,  and 
we  started  out  across  the  hills.  We  went  up  one 
hill,  down  on  the  other  side,  across  the  valley,  up 
the  second  hill.  About  half  way  up  the  hill  we 
came  across  a  fox  track  in  the  snow.  It  was  what 
we  were  looking  for.  The  old  hunter  brought  the 
dogs,  put  them  on  the  track,  and  away  they  started, 
around  the  range  to  the  north.  I  shouldered  my 
gun  and  started  after  them.  The  old  man  said: 
"  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  "  Going  after  the  foxes." 
He  said,  with  a  laugh,  "You  follow  me,"  and  he 
started  across  the  hill  to  the  southwest.  The  dogs 
had  gone  north;  he  went  southwest;  and  I,  without 
a  word,  followed  him,  over  the  top  of  the  hill  and 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       107 

part  way  down  the  other  side.  He  said,  "  You  get 
behind  that  stump."  He  went  and  sat  down  behind 
a  tree.  For  a  whole  hour  I  sat  there  in  the  snow. 
The  thought  commenced  to  come  into  my  mind 
that  the  old  gentleman  had  brought  me  there  to 
freeze.  Just  as  this  thought  was  taking  definite 
shape,  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  was  borne  the  bay- 
ing of  the  hounds.  They  came  nearer  and  nearer. 
The  fox  was  shot  in  front.  After  the  fox  was  shot 
the  old  hunter  came  up,  and  I  asked,  "How  did 
you  know  the  fox  would  come  here?"  "Why,"  he 
answered,  "this  is  his  runway.  I  have  known  over 
three  hundred  foxes  killed  on  this  range,  and  I 
never  knew  one  to  run  on  this  side  of  the  hill  in 
anyplace  but  between  that  stump  and  this  tree." 

Every  hunter  will  tell  you  such  is  the  characteristic 
of  many  kinds  of  game,  and  it  is  equally  true  of  the 
criminals  of  this  country.  Suppose  a  man  should 
break  into  a  store  here  to-night,  and  leave  for  Chicago 
to-morrow — your  police  get  a  description  of  the  man 
and  telegraph  to  the  chief  of  police  of  Chicago  to 
arrest  him.  Where  would  the  Chicago  police  first 
search  for  him  ?  Would  they  go  to  the  prayer-meet- 
ing ?  Would  they  go  to  the  day-school  ?  Would  they 
go  to  the  stores  ?  No !  they  would  go  to  the  grog- 
shops, or  the  children  of  grogshops — houses  of  ill- 
fame,  gambling  hells — because  this  kind  of  game 
always  seeks  this  runway,  its  old  familiar  grounds^ 
Take  the  records  of  the  courts  of  this  country  and 
they  sustain  this  charge  so  thoroughly  that  nb  one 


108      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

will  dare  challenge  it.  And,  gentlemen,  before 
license  men  of  this  state  can  hope  to  defeat  the 
amendment,  they  must  show  that  this  charge  is  false. 
If  the  liquor  traffic  of  this  country  stimulates  crime, 
if  it  stimulates  and  produces  vice,  if  it  upholds  it 
and  sustains  it,  there  is  not  an  argument  under  God's 
fair  heaven  that  will  justify  a  man  in  voting  to  con- 
tinue the  business. 

Again,  the  dramshop  of  this  country  is  a  school 
of  perjury.  From  the  very  day  it  is  opened  it 
makes  liars  of  men.  You  may  say  this  is  a  strong 
charge.  Indict  a  liquor-seller  in  this  town  for  vio- 
lation of  your  liquor  law.  Your  detectives  tell  you 
that  he  has  persistently  violated  it.  Bring  him  into 
court  and  put  him  on  trial.  Subpoena  from  their 
houses  in  this  city  twenty-five  men,  young  and  old, 
who  have  patronized  him.  They  come  into  court. 
You  reach  out  the  Bible ;  they  will  swear  on  God's 
holy  Word  to  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and 
nothing  but  the  truth.  Try  to  prove  by  them,  facts 
which  they  know  to  be  facts.  Nineteen  out  of  the 
twenty-five  will  swear  to  a  lie  to  defend  the  man  who 
sold  them  liquor. 

One  of  these  witnesses  is  on  the  stand:  "Were 
you  in  that  liquor  shop?" 

"I  was." 

"Did  you  buy  something  there?" 

"I  did." 

"What  was  it?" 

"Don't  know." 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       109 

41  What  did  you  call  for?" 

"I  didn't  call." 

"Well,  what  did  you  get?" 

"I  don't  know." 

"You  drank  something,  what  was  it?" 

"  Well,  it  might  have  been  tea,  it  might  have  been 
•coffee,  it  might  have  been  lemonade;  I  don't  know." 

Lie?  of  course  he  lies. 

Suppose  he  had  gone  into  the  saloon  and  asked 
for  beer,  and  the  bar-keeper  had  set  up  lemonade, 
would  he  not  have  known  the  difference? 

Suppose  he  had  asked  for  whisky,  and  the  bar- 
tender had  set  up  tea,  would  he  not  have  known 
the  difference? 

And  yet  that  man  comes  into  court,  and,  after 
taking  his  oath  on  God's  truth,  deliberately  and 
willfully  perjures  his  spul,  degrades  his  manhood, 
dishonors  his  citizenship,  to  defend  the  man  who 
will  take  his  last  dollar,  make  him  a  drunkard,  and 
then  kick  him  into  the  street  and  call  him  a  drunken 
dead-beat.  Have  you  ever  tried  to  enforce  the  law 
against  liquor-sellers?  If  so,  you  know. this  to  be 
true. 

They,  everywhere,  try  to  corrupt  judges,  to  suborn 
witnesses  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice  and  prevent 
an  honest,  fair  and  full  enforcement  of  the  law. 

The  liquor  traffic  of  this  country  is  a  parasite  on 
legitimate  business  life.  The  dealers  and  their  ad- 
vocates will  tell  you  before  this  amendment  fight 
is  over,  that  the  dramshop,  in  some  way  (they  will 


110   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOE  TRAFFIC, 

be  careful  not  to  specify  how),  conduces  to  the  gen- 
eral prosperity  and  the  business  interests  of  this 
state.  If  this  statement  is  true,  then  certainly  they 
have  a  good  defense  with  which  to  meet  the  indict- 
ment against  them. 

Let  us  for  a  few  moments  examine  the  theories  of 
state  building,  in  order  to  fully  understand  the  reas- 
ons for  city,  state  and  national  prosperity. 

A  king  from  Asia  Minor  was  one  time  visiting  a 
king  of  Sparta.  In  Asia,  in  the  early  days  of  the 
world,  all  cities  were  walled,  as  a  defense  against 
enemies.  When  this  king  came  to  Sparta  and  dis- 
covered the  absence  of  walls,  he  was  astonished  and 
asked  the  king  of  Sparta,  "  Where  are  the  walls  of 
your  cities?"  The  Spartan  king  answered,  "I  will 
show  you  to-morrow."  The  next  day  he  ordered  the 
armies  of  Sparta  to  pass  bejore  his  guest  in  review. 
As  these  proud  freemen  of  a  semi -constitutional 
kingdom  marched  by,  the  king,  touching  his  visitor 
on  the  shoulder  and  pointing  with  pride  to  his  sol- 
diers, said,  "There go  the  walls  of  Sparta."  Ladies 
and  gentlemen,  that  is  the  keynote  of  city  .building, 
of  county,  of  state,  and  of  government  building. 

This  opera  house  is  built  of  brick.  Its  stability 
and  strength  depend  largely  upon  the  strength  of 
the  individual  brick,  the  unit  of  the  structure.  Sup- 
pose the  builder  had  employed  the  best  architect  in 
the  country  to  draw  the  plan,  then  employed  good 
masons,  and  they  had  prepared  good  mortar,  and 
when  all  was  ready,  the  brick  were  found  to  be  half- 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       Ill 

baked,  rotten,  soft.  Would  it  not  be  impossible  to 
build  a  good  building  of  such  brick,  no  matter  how 
good  the  plan,  workmen  and  mortar  ? 

The  unit  of  society  is  the  individual.  If  you  wish 
good  society  you  must  build  up  the  units  of  society, 
cultivate  those  institutions  and  customs  whose  influ- 
ence and  effects  tend  to  improve  and  elevate  the 
individual.  If  Iowa  has  only  institutions  that  develop 
health,  strength,  morality  and  intelligence,  her  future 
prosperity  and  greatness  is  assured;  but  if  she  sanc- 
tions and  enters  into  partnership  with  those  institu- 
tions which  debauch  public  morals,  destroy  public 
health,  impair  individual  credit,  stimulate  vice  and 
crime,  the  day  will  come  when,  with  a  political  sys- 
tem destroyed  by  social  debauchery,  Iowa  as  a 
republican  state  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  The 
laws  of  social  and  political  health  are  fixed — to  vio- 
late them  is  to  invite  disease  and  death. 

44  What  constitutes  a  state? 
Not  high-raised  battlement  or  labored  mound, 
Thick  wall  or  moated  gate; 

Not  cities  proud  with  spires  and  turrets  crowned; 
Not  bays  and  broad-armed  ports, 
Where,  laughing  at  the  storm,  rich  navies  ride; 
Not  starred  and  spangled  courts, 
Where  low-browed  baseness  wafts  perfume  to  pride. 
No:  MEX,  high-minded  men, 
With  powers  as  far  above  dull  brutes  endued 
In  forest,  brake,  or  den, 

As  beasts  excel  cold  rocks  and  brambles  rude, — 
Men,  who  their  duties  know, — 

But  know  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare  maintain, 
Prevent  the  long-aimed  blow, 


112       THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

And  crush  the  tyrant,  while  they  rend  the  chain: 

These  constitute  a  state; 

And  sovereign  law,  that  state's  collected  will, 

O'er  thrones  and  globes  elate 

Sits  empress,  crowning  good,  repressing  ill." 

The  defendants  in  this  case  have  only  to  prove 
that  the  liquor  traffic  builds  up  the  state  by  building 
up  the  men  who  constitute  the  state.  If  it  build  up 
its  patrons  socially,  financially,  intellectually  and 
morally,  the  case  of  the  people  against  the  traffic 
must  fail.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they  fail  to  show 
that  their  business  benefits  directly  their  customers, 
then  their  business  must  go.  Let  us  see  if  it  does. 

Our  greenback  friends,  during  the  past  four  years, 
have  told  us  a  great  many  things  that  are  true.  One 
of  the  principles  of  political  economy  which  they 
have  been  teaching  persistently,  or  rather  develop- 
ing, is  that  there  can  be  but  two  types  of  men  in  our 
social  organism, — the  first  the  producing  class — 
those  who,  by  their  work,  add  to  the  material 
wealth  of  the  state,  or  at  least  produce  enough  to 
take  care  of  themselves.  That  class  have  a  right  to 
a  place  as  long  as  their  production  does  not  injuri- 
ously affect  the  society  in  which  they  live;  conse- 
quently they  are  dismissed  from  consideration.  The 
other  class,  the  non-producers,  are  the  men  who 
must  show  to  the  satisfaction  of  society  that  they 
are  entitled  to  a  place  outside  the  almshouse.  All 
political  economists  group  this  second  class  into  two 
sub-classes — assistant  producers,  and  parasitic  non- 
producers. 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       113 

Let  me  illustrate  the  proposition.  Call  up  here 
a  merchant  and  a  doctor;  two  of  one  class.  Put 
here  a  saloon-keeper  and  a  thief;  two  of  the  other 
-class. — Do  not  say  I  am  making  my  point  too  strong; 
this  is  the  teaching  of  every  man  who  ever  wrote  a 
work  on  political  economy,  and  I  am  simply  stating 
what  has  been  stated  by  men  who  advocate  and  be- 
lieve in  license. — I  will  show  you  the  difference 
between  these  classes.  I  turn  to  the  merchant  and 
say  to  him,  "  You  get  money  from  the  producers  of 
this  country.  You  must  show  what  you  do  for  so- 
ciety, and  what  you  do  for  the  producer,  for  the 
money  you  get.  What  do  you  give  in  return  for 
the  producer's  money  you  receive?"  He  answers: 
"  I  am  simply  the  agent  of  producers.  I  act  as  their 
liired  man,  to  a  certain  extent.  These  producers 
manufacture  or  grow  certain  commodities ;  in  another 
country  other  producers  provide  other  commodities. 
I  take  the  commodities  that  these  men  produce,  ship 
to  other  producers,  and  bring  their  products  back  for 
these  producers."  Although  our  farmers  tried  to 
abolish  the  merchant  a  few  years  ago,  they  learned 
that  the  science  of  commerce,  is  a  science,  and  that 
the  men  who  were  novices  in  the  matter  were  illy 
fitted  to  carry  it  on.  When  we  have  examined  the 
merchant,  we  find  that  he  returns  equal  value  for 
the  money  he  gets. 

We  turn  to  the  doctor  and  say:  "Doctor,  you  re- 
ceive money  from  the  producers  while  you  produce 
nothing  yourself.  Tell  us  what  return  you  make  for 


114   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  money  received?"  He  answers:  "The  pro- 
ducers of  this  country  do  not  take  care  of  them- 
selves. In  the  first  place  many  of  them  do  not  un- 
derstand the  laws  of  hygiene.  They  become  sick, 
and  I  am  simply  the  one  who  repairs  the  machinery." 
— One  time,  on  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul 
railroad,  I  was  talking  with  a  gentleman  and  I  asked 
him,  "  What  is  your  business?"  He  said:  "  I  am 
pump  doctor."  I  afterward  ascertained  he  was  the 
hydraulic  engineer.  He  was  the  man  who  had 
charge  of  the  sick  pumps  of  this  road.  When  a 
pump  would  not  work,  he  doctored  it. — Now,  the 
physician  stands  in  the  same  relation  to  society  that 
that  man  stands  to  the  railroad:  he  is  the  one  who 
repairs  the  physical  machinery  of  the  producers. 
When  we  have  examined  him  closely  in  regard  to 
the  money  ho  has  received,  and  the  work  he  has 
done,  we  think  where  we  have  seen  him  standing  by 
the  cick-bed  of  loved  ones,  when  hope  was  dying  out, 
when  tho  dread  feeling  of  despair  was  creeping  in, 
and  the  only  ray  of  light  in  that  dark  hour  was  the 
thought  that  God  gave  and  God  was  taking  away, 
and  heard  him  say,  to  comfort  the  breaking  .heart, 
"While  there  is  life  there  is  hope."  When  the 
loved  one  has  come  back  to  health  and  strength  we 
take  the  money  from  our  pocket  and  think  it  is  about 
the  best  bill  we  ever  paid.  So  we  say,  the  physician 
makes  adequate  return  for  the  money  he  receives. 

Next  we  examine  the  others.     "  Mr.  Liquor-dealer, 
you   get   money,  what  do  you   give  back  for  it?'* 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.      115 

"Whisky  and  beer."  "Well,  sir,  let  me  put  a 
hypothetical  question  to  you.  Suppose  a  man  comes 
into  your  saloon  to-morrow  and  drinks,  sits  awhile, 
and  goes  away.  During  the  next  week,  the  next 
month,  the  next  year,  he  patronizes  you.  For  ten 
years  he  is  your  best  customer,  giving  you  the  larger 
part  of  his  earnings  and  the  greater  part  of  his  time. 
At  the  end  o£  the  time  what  will  you  have  done  for 
the  man  in  return  for  the  money  he  has  given  you  ?" 
If  the  liquor-seller  is  honest  he  will  have  to  answer, 
"He  would  have  been  better  off  if  he  had  never  come 
into  my  place.  I  have  not  only  taken  his  money,  but 
I  have  cursed  him  in  the  taking." 

Try  it  again.  "  Mr.  Liquor-dealer,  suppose  a  man 
with  a  family  comes  into  your  place  and  becomes 
your  patron.  At  the  end  of  five  or  six  years,  he 
dies  in  front  of  your  bar  under  the  influence  of 
liquor.  What  will  you  have  done  for  his  wife  and 
babies  in  return  for  the  money  you  received  from 
him?"  Again  the  answer  must  be:  "  It  would  have 
been  better  for  that  wife  and  child  if  he  had  never 
traded  with  me."  Do  you  see  the  difference?  The 
merchant  says,  "I  benefit  him,  and  you  see  the  bene- 
fit." The  drink-vendor  has  to  admit  that  he  curses 
him,  and  everybody  sees  the  curse. 

If  I  put  the  same  questions  to  the  thief,  he  must- 
give  the  same  answers  as  the  liquor-dealer:  "I  take> 
and  return  nothing."  Suppose  four  farmers  come 
into  Des  Moines,  each  with  fifty  dollars  in  his  pocket. 
One  goes  to  the  dry  goods  store,  one  goes  to  the 


116      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

hardware  store,  one  goes  to  the  boot  and  shoe  store, 
and  the  other  goes  to  the  dramshop,  drinks  for  two 
or  three  days,  and  spends  his  money  in  that  place. 

After  two  weeks,  I  come  to  you  and  say:  "Let 
us  go  and  see  those  producers ;  see  what  they  received 
for  the  money  they  gave  those  non-producers."  We 
drive  to  the  home  of  the  man  who  spent  his  money 
at  the  dry  goods  store.  "What  did  you  get?"  "Do 
you  see  this  coat  and  that  dress,  and  that  coat  that 
Tom's  got  on?  Well,  I  gave  that  merchant  fifty 
dollars,  and  he  gave  me  in  exchange  these  things. 
He  is  better  off;  we  are  better  off."  Exchange  of 
values;  both  are  benefited. 

We  go  to  the  man  who  went  to  the  hardware 
store,  and  we  say,  "What  did  you  receive?"  "Do 
you  see  that  stove,  and  this  axe,  and  those  kettles?" 
"Yes."  "Well,  I  gave  him  fifty  dollars;  he  gave 
me  these.  We  are  better  off;  he  is  better  off." 

We  go  to  the  man  who  went  to  the  boot  and  shoe 
store.  "  What  did  you  get  for  the  money  you  paid  ?  " 
"  You  see  those  boots,  and  those  shoes  that  Nellie 
lias  on,  those  shoes  my  wife  has  on,  and  the  boots 
that  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  have  on  ?  I  gave  that 
merchant  fifty  dollars  for  them."  An  exchange  of 
values;  both  are  benefited. 

Now  we  go  to  the  man  who  spent  the  fifty  dollars 
in  the  dramshop,  and  say  to  him:  "Sir,  you  paid 
that  non -producer  fifty  dollars.  What  did  you  get 
back?"  "Come  here  and  I  will  show  you."  Will 
he  say  that  ?  No ;  he  will  hang  his  head  and  say, 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       117 

"I  got  this  nose,  these  eyes,  and  I  have  been  sick 
ever  since." 

"  My  farmer  friend,  would  you  not  have  been  better 
off  if  you  had  put  the  fifty  dollars  in  the  lamp  and 
burned  it,  and  never  have  gone  to  the  drinking- 
place  at  all?  Yes;  because  you  would  have  had  a 
clear  head,  hard  muscles,  and  could  have  gone  to 
work  at  once  and  produced  more  wealth  to  take  the 
place  of  that  destroyed.  The  liquor-dealer  took  your 
money  and  unfitted  your  brain  and  muscles  for  the 
production  of  more  wealth." 

In  the  southern  country  you  will  see,  in  different 
places,  clinging  to  the  trees,  the  plant  known  to 
botanists  as  the  mistletoe.  You  will  say  it  is  a 
beautiful  plant,  and  yet  the  botanist  will  tell  you 
that  it  is  a  base  plant.  You  ask  why?  Climb  up 
the  tree  and  see.  What  will  you  find  ?  the  plant 
putting  its  roots  down  into  the  earth  to  suck  its 
life  from  inorganic  matter?  No.  It  is  thrusting  its 
rootlets  into  the  bark  of  the  tree,  sucking  its  life 
from  other  life,  living  by  the  destruction  of  organic 
life.  Botanists  call  it  a  parasite.  Among  insects 
you  have  the  same  class.  Go  out  along  the  old 
California  trail  in  my  own  state  or  in  Wyoming, 
anywhere  between  the  Missouri  river  and  the  coast, 
and  stop  in  one  of  the  old  sod  ranches  and  tell  the 
keeper  of  it  that  you  want  a  bed.  Stipulate  that  it 
shall  be  unoccupied,  and  labor  under  the  delusion 
that  you  will  be  given  such  a  bed.  When  the  time 
comes,  you  disrobe,  retire,  and  start  for  dreamland. 


118   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

You  will  have,  to  start  pretty  quick  to  get  there. 
Just  as  you  are  passing  over  the  border,  something 
starts  from  your  foot  along  up  the  leg.  It  stops, 
and  you  know  where  it  stops.  You  have  a  very 
urgent  desire  to  go  down  there  and  see  it.  By  the 
time  you  get  down,  there  is  something  on  your  back 
and  something  on  your  side.  You  roll,  and  kick, 
and  strike ; — it  will  be  fortunate  for  you  if  you  said 
your  prayers  before  you  went  to  bed;  it  may  keep 
you  from  saying  something  worse  before  you  get 
up. — At  last  you  can  endure  it  no  longer ;  you  spring 
out,  light  the  lamp  and  throw  down  the  covering. 
See  them  run !  the  flat-headed  cowards ! 

Oh,  how  humanity  loaths  them !  The  whole  family 
— mosquitoes,  gnats,  jiggers,  cockroaches,  bed  bugs ; 
ugh! 

Come  up  higher,  to  the  highest  order  God  created 
on  earth,  and  you  have  the  same  type.  Every  gam- 
bler in  this  country  is  a  parasite  on  social  and 
business  life.  He  is  a  man  who,  through  the 
meshes  of  his  games,  entraps  other  men,  and  grows 
rich  by  the  ruin  of  his  victims.  A  man  who  takes 
value  without  returning  an  equivalent.  Every  dram- 
shop in  this  country  bears  the  same  relation  to 
society.  The  liquor-seller  comes  into  your  town, 
locates,  commences  his  business,  and  sells  his  wares. 
"What  is  the  result?  As  the  shingles  go  on  his 
house,  they  tumble  off  the  houses  of  his  patrons. 
As  he  wears  broadcloth,  his  victims  wear  rags.  As 
he  drives  up  the  street  with  his  nice  team,  his  victims 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       119 

plod,  with  hods  on  their  shoulders,  earning  money 
to  buy  the  liquor-man  another  team. 

As  you  meet  the  liquor-seller's  wife,  with  her  silks 
and  satins,  tripping  down  the  street,  you  meet  the 
victim's  wife,  scantily  clad,  carrying  a  basket  of 
clothes  she  has  washed  to  earn  money  to  buy  food 
for  her  babies.  You  meet  the  liquor-dealer's  boy 
flying  his  kite,  while  his  victim's  boy  meets  you  with: 
"Mister,  won't  you  give  me  just  one  penny  to  buy 
bread?  I  am  starving." 

The  license  man  objects,  "  But  the  liquor-dealers 
do  not  get  rich,  or  their  wives  wear  silk  or  satins." 
True:  the  picture  is  what  would  really  be  the  con- 
dition of  the  liquor-seller's  family,  but  for  the  fact 
that  blood-money  always  curses  the  receiver.  Money 
made  from  the  sale  of  liquor  is  like  money  made 
from  gambling,  hard  to  keep.  But,  my  license  friend, 
is  not  my  point  strengthened  by  your  objection,  for, 
it  being  true,  the  liquor  traffic  curses  even  the  fami- 
lies of  those  who  engage  in  it?  It  is  a  universal 
curse,  without  a  redeeming  trait. 

The  liquor-seller  lives  by  ruining  his  customers. 
The  dramshop  of  this  country,  worse  than  the  devil- 
fish of  Victor  Hugo,  not  only  wraps  its  arms  around 
its  victim  directly,  but  thrusts  those  insatiate  arms 
into  their  homes,  taking  the  carpets,  pictures,  books 
— everything  that  makes  home  pleasant  for  wife  and 
children,  and  drawing  into  its  maw  the  very  element 
that  civilizes  and  christianizes  the  country. 

Suppose  that  I  could  take  all  the  money  which 


120      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  producing  community  of  the  state  of  Iowa  could 
make — I  am  not  speaking  of  the  money  you  could 
borrow  in  the  eastern  states — but  all  the  money  you 
can  make  in  a  year.  Pile  it  here  on  the  table.  This 
money  must  do  what?  It  must  build  the  homes  and, 
fences ;  lay  down  the  carpets  and  buy  the  books ;  it 
must  run  the  stores,  run  the  manufactories,  carry  on 
the  newspapers,  build  up  all  other  kinds  of  trade.  It 
is  the  life-blood  of  commerce.  When  you  have  it 
piled  up  here,  the  lawyers,  doctors,  ministers,  mer- 
chants, newspaper  men,  all  the  industries  gather 
around.  Five  thousand  liquor-dealers  step  forward 
and  say:  "More  than  nine  million  dollars  of  that 
money  is  ours,"  You  say,  "No;"  but  they  say, 
"  Gentlemen,  we  bought  the  privilege  of  the  first 
grab  at  it,  and  that  grab  we  are  going  to  have. " 

My  friend,  are  you  in  business  in  Des  Moines? 
Do  not  you  know  this  to  be  true  ?  If  a  farmer  who 
drinks  liquor  comes  into  this  city  with  one  dollar  in 
his  pocket  he  will  spend  it  for  grog  and  ask  you  ta 
trust  him  for  a  dress  for  his  wife.  Do  not  you  know 
that  the  saloons  of  this  city  and  other  cities  are 
located  on  your  principal  business  streets,  and  that 
they  sell  their  liquors  for  cash,  while  you  trust  for 
the  necessaries  of  life?  Do  you  sell  jewelry?  If 
you  do,  do  you  sell  the  best  of  your  jewelry  to  the 
man  who  spends  his  money  in  grogshops  ?  Do  you 
sell  nice  clothing?  How  much  do  you  sell  to  the 
man  who  spends  the  greater  part  of  his  money  in  a 
drinking  place?  Do  you  sell  silk  dresses,  my  friend? 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       121 

Are  the  patrons  of  the  dramshop  your  customers? 
Do  not  you  know,  business  men,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
that  the  dramshop  unfits  its  patrons  for  you  and 
takes  the  money  which  would  buy  nice  things  to 
beautify  the  home — buy  nice  clothes  and  good  food, 
leaving  the  home  without  these  blessings? 

"  But,"  says  one,  "  the  liquor-dealer  buys  these 
iliings."  'k  Oh,  yes,  gentleman,  but  he  is  one  where 
his  patrons  are  a  hundred.  Where  you  sell  him  one 
fcuit  of  clothes  you  lose  the  sale  of  a^huudred  suits 
to  his  customers.  Where  you  sell  him  one  picture 
to  go  into  his  home  to  beautify  it,  you  fail  to  sell  his 
customers  a  hundred  pictures  to  make  their  homes 
pleasant  for  their  children  and  families." 

Take  a  leech ;  press  all  the  blood  out  of  it.  Now 
I  will  show  you  a  trick  of  license  economy.  I  take 
a  lancet,  draw  a  scratch  on  my  arm,  and  say,  "  Suck." 
It  does.  Just  look  at  it.  It  is  growing  respectable  j 
it  is  getting  sleek,  and  smooth,  and  fat. — -When  it  is 
full  it  will  let  go. — There  is  this  difference  between 
insect  leeches  and  human  leeches:  An  insect  leech 
ceases  sucking  when  he  is  full,  while  a  human  leech 
will  continue  to  suck  as  long  as  there  is  any  money 
in  the  pockets  of  the  victims  or  until  he  is  choked  off. 

I  want  to  show  you  the  statesmanship  of  license 
advocates. 

I  take  the  leech  and  squeeze  it ;  two  or  three  drops 
of  blood  come  from  ii$  mouth  and  I  swallow  them 
and  say  I  have  gained  so  much  blood,  Some  boy  in 
this  house  cries  out,  "Mr.  Finch,  you  are  foolish! 


122   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Why,  every  drop  of  that  blood  was  in  you  first — the 
leech  sucked  it  out  of  you.  You  have  only  got  a 
part  of  it  back,  and  that  part  in  a  way  that  will  do 
you  more  injury  than  good."  Liquor  men  come 
into  your  state  and  the  law  draws  a  scratch  on  your 
business  life  and  sticks  them  on  and  says,  "  Suck." 
See  them  change  their  clothes!  See  them  grow  fat 
as  they  live  on  the  business  life  of  the  city  and  the 
country!  When  the  year  rolls  around,  the  city 
council  invert  them  and  squeeze  out  of  them  five 
hundred,  one  thousand,  or  fifteen  hundred  dollars, 
and  say,  "Ha!  ha!  we  have  saved  so  much  money  to 
the  city."  But  where  did. the  liquor-dealer  get  the 
money?  He  did  not  have  it  when  he  came  here. 
He  came  into  your  state,  and  without  giving  a  single 
thing  of  value,  without  building  up  society,  without 
helping  society,  he  has  sucked  from  it  thousands  of 
dollars.  He  keeps  the  largest  part,  and  gives  you  a 
pittance  to  be  allowed  to  continue.  You  take  it,  and 
congratulate  yourselves  that  you  are  dividing  up 
with  the  spoiler  of  your  homes,  your  prosperity,  and 
your  civilization. 

Build  up  a  city,  gentlemen  ?  Just  as  well  build 
up  a  man  by  putting  lice  on  his  head,  as  to  hope  to 
build  up  the  material  interests  of  a  city  by  opening 
dramshops.  In  every  business  relation  the  liquor 
traffic  of  the  country  is  an  institution  which  receives 
value  without  returning  it.  <  It  lives  on  society  as 
parasites  live  on  other  bodies. 

I  suppose  I  ought  to  say,  in  justice  to  myself,  that 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       123 

I  never  like  to  compare  things  unfavorably.  I  do 
not  like  to  drag  anything  into  a  position  where  it 
ought  not  to  be,  and  I  feel  at  this  point  like  apolo- 
gizing— to  the  bed-bug.  You  ask  what  I  mean  ?  I 
will  tell  you.  I  never  knew  one  bed-bug  to  eat 
another  bed-bug,  or  one  louse  to  eat  another  louse. 

It  remains  for  the  last  and  highest  orders  which 
God  created  in  his  own  image,  to  develop  the  type 
which  will  live  on  their  own  kind  and  off  their  own 
species ;  who  will  fasten  the  fangs  of  parasitic  avarice 
in  the  pulsating  flesh  of  their  own  kin,  their  own 
blood,,  their  own  sex,  and  their  own  race, — and  grow 
rich,  not  by  the  destruction  of  other  species,  not  by 
the  destruction  of  other  orders,  but  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  individuals  who  feel  the  same,  who  enjoy  the 
same,  that  they  do.  It  is  unfair  to  an  order  of  para- 
sitic life  that  lives  on  other  classes,  to  compare  it 
with  a  class  low  enough,  vile  enough,  to  live  on  its 
own  kind  without  a  feeling  of  sympathy,  without  a 
pulsation  of  regret. 

Recently  a  lady  said  to  me,  "Do  not  use  such 
horrid  comparisons."  Why  horrid?  The  mosquito, 
gnat  and  bed-bug  in  physical  form  compare  favora- 
bly with  the  bee,  the  fly  and  the  ant.  "Oh!"  she 
exclaimed,  "but  they  are  horrid."  Yes,  they  are 
disagreeable,  but  their  manner  of  living  is  what 
makes  them  disagreeable.  If  they  were  not  para- 
sites, humanity  would  not  detest  them.  If  the  dram- 
vender  lived  by  building  up  and  advancing  the  race 
we  should  not  be  compelled  to  classify  him  with 
parasites. 


124   THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

The  liquor  traffic  is  the  enemy  of  home  life.  The 
keystone  of  American  civilization  is  the  American 
home.  I  would  I  could  take  you  to  the  frontier — 
to  the  cattle  and  mining  towns  of  this  country,  where 
home  life  is  comparatively  unknown,  and  by  ocular 
demonstration  impress  this  fact  upon  your  minds, — 
show  you  how  the  words  mother  and  home  have  the 
power  to  awraken  the  latent  manhood  in,  and  lead  out 
to  a  grander  and  better  life,  men  seemingly  lost  to 
all  influences  for  good.  You,  especially  you  busi- 
ness men,  know  how  great  this  influence  is  on  public 
life.  The  opposition  you  meet,  the  trickery  and 
fraud  you  see  practiced,  makes  you  bard,  un- 
charitable, cynical,  and,  when  gone  from"  home  for 
months,  bitter  and  selfish.  You  return  to  your  home, 
and,  in  the  presence  of  wife  and  children,  hatred, 
selfishness,  bitterness,  cynicism  vanish  like  the  cold, 
clammy,  poisonous  March  fog  before  the  morning 
sun.  Home  life  and  love  is  the  sun  which  fructifies 
all  the  nobler  impulses  of  man's  nature.  Few  men 
go  from  home  with  the  kiss  of  wife  upon  their  lips 
and  the  soft  touch  of  baby  fingers  lingering  in 
pleasant  memories  on  their  neck,,  but  feel  more 
charity  for  their  f ellowmen,  more  love  for  humanity, 
and  a  renewed  desire  to  build  themselves  up  in  all 
that  pertains  to  true  manhood.  Home  is  the  moral 
and  political  conservator  of  the  nation,  the  antidote 
of  communism,  socialism,  riot,  vice  and  bloodshed. 
A  man  who  goes  from  home  with  the  softening 
influences  of  womanhood's  homage  and  childhood's 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       125 

love  lingering  about  him,  seldom  goes  to  murder, 
rob,  or  excite  riot. 

Into  this  garden  of  American  hope  the  breath  of 
the  liquor  traffic  comes  like  the  hot  winds  of  the 
desert.  By  the  use  of  the  things  sold  in  the  dram- 
shop all  the  finer  feelings  of  the  husband  and  father 
are  injured,  and  his  passions  stimulated,  and  from 
being  the  head — the  life  of  the  home, — he  soon  be- 
comes a  despot  and  a  terror.  The  money  which 
should  be  used  to  buy  pictures,  books,  carpets,  and 
other  things  to  make  home  pleasant,  is  spent  to  still 
further  lower  and  degrade  him.  A  drunkard's  home! 
Can  there  be  any  greater  mockery  of  the  word  home  !- 
Any  institution  or  custom  which  causes  such  results 
is  a  terrible  enemy  of  American  liberty  and  civili- 
zation. 

The  liquor  traffic  is  the  enemy  of  an  honest  ballot 
and  a  fair  count.  The  effect  of  the  dramshop  is  to 
destroy  the  intellectual  force  and  moral  character  of 
its  patrons,  as  well  as  to  reduce  them  financially, 
often  to  beggary.  The  high  moral  sense  which 
should  govern  every  voter  is  lost  when  a  diseased 
craving  for  stimulants  controls  a  man.  In  such  a 
condition,  he  is  open  to  corrupt  influences  and  comes 
to  regard  his  vote  as  a  merchantable  commodity  which 
ought  to  bring  enough  in  the  markets  of  corruption 
to  minister  to  his  appetite  and  supply  his  wants. 
The  threat  of  the  brewers  in  their  late  convention 
was  based  upon  the  knowledge  that  the  traffic  had 
placed  thousands  of  men  in  such  a  moral,  physical 


126      THE  PEOPLE  VEKSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

and  financial  condition  that  they  could  be  corrupted. 
The  liquor  men  have  always  boasted  of  their  political 
power  obtained  in  this  way ;  and  many  a  candidate 
has  felt  it  necessary  to  leave  money  with  the  liquor- 
seller  to  influence  the  bummer  vote.  Look  at  Chicago, 
New  York  and  other  cities.  An  honest  vote  in  some 
parts  of  those  cities  is  impossible.  "  In  what  parts?" 
Those  where  the  dramshops  are  most  plentiful.  Un- 
less the  liquor  traffic  of  the  country  is  destroyed,  it 
will  do  for  the  whole  nation  what  it  has  done  for  the 
great  centers  of  population ;  and  as  the  life  of  this 
government  depends  largely  on  the  purity  of  the 
ballot-box,  which  can  only  be  guaranteed  by  the 
morality  and  intelligence  of  the  individual  voter,  the 
government  must  destroy  the  dramshops,  or  they  will 
destroy  the  government. 

This  is,  in  part,  the  case  for  the  people.  The 
issue  raised  is  one  of  simple  fact.  Guilty,  or  not 
guilty?  The  traffic  must  plead  to  the  indictment. 
If  the  charges  made  are  false,  the  amendment  should 
be  defeated.  If  they  are  true,  it  must,  for  the  good 
of  the  whole  country,  be  carried.  Standing  on  the 
street  corners,  blowing  or  bulldozing,  does  not  meet 
the  facts  alleged  by  the  amendment  advocates.  The 
question  is  not,  Does  prohibition  prohibit  ?  but,  Does 
regulation  regulate?  These  charges  are  made  against 
licensed  dramshops.  If  such  charges  are  true,  it  is 
the  result  of  license.  The  license  system  is  on  trial, 
and  it  will  not  benefit  liquor-sellers  to  cry  out  "stop 
thief!"  with  the  idea  of  turning  public  attention  from 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       127 

the  real  issue.  Is  the  licensed  traffic  guilty  of  the 
crimes  and  misdemeanors  alleged?  If  it  is,  then 
license  is  a  failure.  The  condition  of  things  cannot  be 
worse.  The  defendants  must  meet  the  indictment  and 
show  its  counts  false,  and  that  dramshops  are  a  bless- 
ing, that  license  is  a  success,  that  they  obey  law,  that 
the  liquor  traffic  purifies  the  ballot-box,  discourages 
corruption,  builds  up  society,  and  promotes  law  and 
order.  If  they  can  show  this,  their  business  is  safe. 
Liquor  men,  the  voters  of  Iowa  are  waiting  for  you 
to  meet  the  facts.  Will  you  do  it,  or  dodge  and  cry, 
"Keep  it  out  of  politics;"  "Prohibition  is  a  fail- 
ure;" "Beer  is  a  temperance  beverage;"  "Moral 
suasion  is  the  way  to  work."  Gentlemen  liquor- 
sellers,  these  issues  are  NOT  involved  in  the  cam- 
paign. The  license  system  is  being  tried  on  its 
record,  and  you  must  confine  yourselves  to  the 
question ;  any  evasion,  or  failure  to  meet  the  charges 
fairly,  honestly,  and  manfully  will  be  a  confession 
of  guilt,  and  will  be  so  regarded  by  the  people. 

But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  they  cannot,  and  will 
not  try  to  refute,  explain  away,  or  justify  the  record 
they  themselves  have  made.  Every  charge  made  by 
the  amendment  advocates  is  true,  and  the  defense,  as 
outlined  by  the  brewers  of  Iowa,  is  in  keeping  with 
the  nature  and  character  of  the  traffic,  not  only  in 
Iowa,  but  elsewhere.  A  telegram  from  Dayton', 
Ohio,  received  to-day,  says:  "The  Dayton  Journal 
is  being  boycotted  by  members  of  the  liquor  associa- 
tions on  account  of  its  stand  on  the  Pond  and  Smith 
bills." 


128       THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOIt  TRAFFIC, 

The  record  of  the  liquor  business,  the  creed  of 
the  brewers,  the  admissions  of  their  advocates, 
show  conclusively  that  the  dramshop  is  a  bulldozer, 
a  rebel,  a  voluntary,  defiant  outlaw,  which  assassinates 
business,  character,  or  life,  as  it  may  deem  best,  to 
intimidate  opposition  and  prevent  investigation  of  its 
record  and  effects.  These  cowards  are  universal 
bulldozers.  I  never  knew  the  liquor  business  to  do 
a  manly  thing  in  the  world.  I  never  knew  it  to  make 
a  manly  fight.  I  never  knew  it  to  stand  squarely  on 
an  issue.  Its  whole  defense  is  a  show  of  defiance, 
a  show  of  bravado,  show  of  bulldozing,  show  of  brag- 
adoeio ;  and  when  these  fail,  the  defense  is  private, 
cowardly  assassination.  This  is  a  terrible  charge, 
is  it  not?  What  is  the  first  argument  brought 
against  the  amendment  in  this  state? — "You  cannot 
prohibit  the  sale  of  liquor."  What  does  that  mean? 
Rebellion. 

-  If  prohibition  will  not  prohibit,  what  is  the  cause 
of  its  failure  ?  The  liquor  outlaws  refuse  to  obey 
the  will  of  the  people.  They  are  self-confessed 
traitors  to  good  government. 

I  tell  the  liquor  men  of  this  country  that  if  they 
think  they  are  greater  than  this  government,  the 
same  thought  has  been  entertained  by  other  men. 
There  is  no  one  thing  more  certain  than  that  this 
government  is  greater  than  any  class  of  rebels,  that 
it  can  enforce  any  law  which  a  majority  of  this 
people,  through  their  legislature,  say  shall  be  the 
supreme  law  of  this  state.  This  must  be  taken  for 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUE8  AND  DEFENSE.       129 

granted — that  the  state  of  Iowa  can  enforce  any  law 
that  may  be  passed  by  a  majority  of  its  legislature. 
If  the  votes  of  the  majority  of  citizens  expressed 
in  the  statutes  of  Iowa  cannot  be  enforced ;  if  three 
thousand  saloon-keepers  can  bulldoze  and  intimidate 
the  government  of  this  commonwealth,  then  the 
sooner  your  government  goes  into  bankruptcy  and 
you  get  one  which  is  good  for  something,  the  better 
it  will  be  for  humanity,  civilization  and  liberty. 

Through  the  canvass  in  Kansas  the  same  thing 
was  said.  They  did  not  say  that  the  charges  made 
against  the  dramshop  were  false.  They  said:  "If 
you  pass  the  amendment  you  cannot  enforce  it ; "  and, 
armed  with  bottled  beer,  they  tried  to  bulldoze  the 
state.  What  was  the  result? 

Coming  from  Topeka,  recently,  to  Kansas  City,  I 
was  sitting  in  the  seat  just  behind  the  leader  of  the 
anti-prohibitionists  of  that  state — I  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  him  during  the  canvass  on  the  public 
platform  and  discussing  the  question  with  him — we 
were  talking  about  other  questions  for  a  time.  At  last 
he  turned  to  me,  and  drawing  his  face  down  as  long 
as  Job's  when  struck  by  boils,  went  on  to  say, 
"  Finch,  all  I  predicted  at  Bismark  Grove  in  regard 
to  this  accursed  law  has  come  true." 

"Well,  what  is  it?" 

"Why,"  he  said,  "it  is  killing  Kansas.  Ger- 
mans are  leaving  the  state  by  hundreds.  It  is  driv- 
ing men  out,  and  immigration  will  not  come.  The 
state  is  dead." 


130      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

I  said  to  him:  "You  have  this  consolation,  if  the 
prohibitory  law  has  killed  your  state,  if  it  has  driven 
large  numbers  out  of  your  state,  if  it  is  not  to  be 
renowned  for  the  number  of  its  people,  it  will  be 
renowned  for  the  sobriety,  intelligence,  and  the 
morality  of  those  who  remain." 

"  Hold  on,"  said  the  gentleman;  "there  is  more 
whisky  and  beer  sold  in  Kansas  to-day  than  there 
ever  was  before.  You  can  get  it  everywhere." 

Looking  closely  at  him,  I  asked,  "  For  what  are 
those  men  leaving  Kansas?" 

If  I  pick  up  a  copy  of  one  daily  paper  published  in 
Chicago,  or  another  from  St.  Louis,  I  frequently  see 
a  two-column  editorial  saying,  "Kansas  is  dead';' 
"Emigration  to  Kansas  has  stopped;"  "The  pro- 
hibitory law  has  killed  Kansas."  Perhaps  the  very 
next  day  I  pick  up  a  copy  of  the  same  paper,  and  I 
Bee  an  editorial  or  an  article  by  an  anonymous  cor- 
respondent, saying,  "  Whisky  is  being  sold  in  every 
town  in  Kansas  just  as  free  as  water;"  "There  are 
more  drunkards  in  Kansas  than  when  the  law  was 
passed." 

I  admire  consistent  liars, — a  person  who  can  tell 
a  big  lie,  which  will  sound  like  the  truth — I  admire 
fcis  ingenuity,  but  do  not  think  much  of  his  morality. 
The  liars  who  are  fighting  against  prohibition  lack 
consistency.  In  Maine  they  have  fought  from  the 
first  day  to  this  in  exactly  the  same  way. 

If  the  battle  had  been  between  the  liquor  rebels 
of  Kansas  and  the  moral  citizens  of  Kansas,  there 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       131 

would  not  have  been  an  open  grogshop  in  the  state 
three  months  after  the  law  passed.  No  sooner  had 
the  law  been  passed  to  enforce  the  amendment,  than 
the  combined  liquor  power  of  this  nation  stood  be- 
hind the  outlaws  there  to  encourage  them  and  to 
help  them  to  defy  the  supreme  law  of  that  state ;  and 
what  is  still  meaner,  men  from  other  states  went  in 
to  help  these  outlaws  assassinate  the  morality  and  the 
character  of  Kansas. 

I  remember  reading  in  one  of  the  great  news- 
papers of  Chicago  a  long  article,  saying  that  in 
the  southern  states  the  constitutional  amendments 
were  defied  and  the  civil  rights  bill  was  a  dead 
letter,  and  appealing  to  the  solid  north  to  rise 
en  masse,  and  at  the  ballot-box  crush  out  this  rebel- 
lion against  the  constitution  and  the  laws.  It  said: 
"  When  an  article  is  in  the  constitution,  when  statutes 
have  been  passed  to  enforce  it,  men  are  rebels  who 
defy  it."  And  yet  this  same  newspaper  is  down  in 
the  mud  before  the  liquor  power  of  this  nation, 
and  has  become  the  apologist  for,  and  the  sympa- 
thizer with,  the  liquor  rebels  of  Kansas.  It  advises 
them  to  defy  the  supreme  law  of  that  state,  and  the 
statutes  made  to  enforce  it.  Kansas'  grand  governor 
— St.  John — it  calls  every  mean  name  which  it  can 
find  in  the  drunkard-makers'  vocabulary.  O !  if  there 
is  any  one  thing  that  would  make  every  drop  of 
blood  in  my  veins  grow  hot  with  indignation,  it  is 
the  way  that  the  opposition  meet  this  issue.  I  know 
John  P.  St  John  of  Kansas.  I  have  seen  him  with 


132   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Ms  family,  standing  as  he  does  the  grandest  repub- 
lican governor  of  the  country.  The  opposition 
have  not  met  him  like  men ;  they  have  called  him 
everything  that  was  vile,  attempted  to  assassinate 
his  character,  traduced  him,  and  continue  to  traduce 
him ;  and  men  who  ought  to  be  in  better  business 
have  become  tools  of  the  liquor  rebels  to  carry  on 
this  dirty  work. 

Can  the  liquor  business  be  stopped?  Men  of 
Iowa,  there  is  no  need  of  asking  that  question  here. 
When  the  saloon-men  stand  up  and  say  prohibition 
will  not  prohibit,  and  that  the  traffic  cannot  be 
stopped,  I  answer,  I  know  better.  The  idea  of  five 
thousand  liquor-dealers  being  able  to  control  this 
state  is  absurd.  When  I  hear  a  man  or  see  a  news- 
paper whimpering  and  crying,  "It  ought  to  be 
stopped  but  we  cannot  stop  it;  they  will  sell  any- 
how," I  get  disgusted,  especially  in  this  state,  set- 
tled by  old  soldiers.  Some  of  you  men  a  few  years 
ago  left  your  state,  your  mothers,  wives  and  children, 
and  went  down  to  the  southern  land  and  there,  in 
the  face  of  cannon,  in  the  face  of  the  rows  of  mus- 
ketry— and  you  knew  that  behind  those  guns  were 
brave  men  fighting  for  what  they  believed  to  be 
right,  as  you  were  fighting  for  what  you  believed  to 
be  right, — in  face  of  the  sheeted  fire  and  leaden  hail, 
where  death  was  on  every  breeze,  you  fought,  suf- 
fered and  bled.  For  what  ?  Just  simply  to  say  this 
government .  was  able  to  hold  itself  together,  to 
enforce  its  laws,  and  to  live. 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.        133 

The  idea  that  in  this  state;  filled  witn  men  who 
wear  the  scars  of  honorable  battle,  scars  which  were 
obtained  in  strife  that  makes  them  honored  through- 
out the  world  — the  idea  of  these  men  getting  down 
to  whimper  and  say  "'the  state  cannot  enforce  the 
law!" 

A  Union  general  was  riding  up  to  the  rear>  of  his 
forces  at  the  battle  of  Antietam,  when  he  saw  from 
the  front  ranks  a  tall  soldier  start  and  in  double  quick 
time  make  his  way  to  the  rear.  The  general  was 
astonished,  and,  looking  at  him  for  a  moment,  said: 

"  Halt,  sir.     Go  back  to  your  regiment." 

The  fellow  stopped,  commenced  to  cry,  and  said: 
"General,  I  can't;  I  am  a  coward,  and  I  told  them  I 
was  a  coward  when  they  drafted  me  in  the  army." 

"Well,"  said  the  general,  "if  I  was  a  coward  I 
would  not  be  a  great  baby.  Go  back,  sir." 

"  Well,  I  wish  I  was  a  baby,  and  a  gal  baby  at 
thai" 

Ridiculous!  Yes,  but  is  it  half  as  ridiculous  as 
for  men  who  make  up  the  commonwealth  of  Iowa  to 
go  whimpering  around:  "It  ought  to  be  stopped, 
but  we  cannot  stop  it.  They  will  sell  anyhow."  "  Mr. 
Liquor-seller,  you  are  in  a  mighty  mean  business; 
you  are  ruining  homes;  you  are  making  criminals, 
you  are  filling  jails;  you  are  crowding  alrnshouses; 
you  are  breaking  the  Sabbath;  you  are  damning 
souls ;  but  we  cannot  stop  you ;  you  will  sell  anyhow. 
Please  give  us  five  hundred  dollars  with  which  to 
build  sidewalks  in  our  cities." 


134   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOB  TRAFFIC. 

Gentlemen  and  ladies,  this  government  is  greater 
than  any  of  its  vices.  When  any  of  its  vices  become 
greater  than  the  government  it  will  die.  When  any 
class  of  men  are  able  to  defy  the  government  suc- 
cessfully, then  they  become  the  government.  If  you 
grant  that  the  liquor-dealers  of  this  state  are  greater 
than  the  government  in  the  state,  then  you  grant  that 
Iowa  has  ceased .  to  exist  as  a  commonwealth  and 
has  become  an  oligarchy  of  the  liquor  traffic.  The 
supreme  power  of  the  state  is  the  government,  and 
if  the  dramshops  have  power  greater  than  the  state, 
the  state  is  merely  an  automaton  in  the  hands  of  a 
vital,  aggressive  and  active  force.  The  threat  of  the 
Iowa  brewers,  the  threat  of  the  Iowa  distillers  is  an 
open  declaration  that  the  state  of  Iowa  is  not  able  to 
control  them  and  that  they  propose  to  control  the  state. 
The  question  as  it  comes  to  you  is  simply:  "Will 
you  be  men,  will  you  assert  your  power  to  consider 
the  question  on  its  merits  and  settle  it,  or  will  you 
be  bulldozed,  will  you  be  intimidated;  will  you  be 
corrupted,  and  sell  your  birthright  for  a  mess  of 
pottage?" 

This,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  the  case  as  I  wish 
to  present  it  to  you ;  take  it  to  your  homes ;  think 
over  it  fairly,  fully,  honestly,  and  when  you  render 
your  verdict,  have  these  two  things  in  mind:  First, 
your  obligations  to  your  own  homes,  your  own  fami- 
lies. Second,  your  obligations  as  citizens  of  a  state 
to  protect  all  homes,  all  families,  all  citizens. 

The  temperance  question  was  never  so  dear  to  me — 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       135 

the  cause  never  seemed  so  much  my  own,  although 
I  always  loved  it — as  it  was  after  the  little  bright- 
eyed  boy  came  into  my  home.  When  he  comes 
and  climbs  on  my  knee,  puts  his  chubby  little  arms 
around  my  neck  and  calls  me  "  papa,"  the  thought 
comes  to  me,  will  there  ever  be  the  time  when  my 
boy  will  reel  along  the  street  a  drunkard,  wear  the 
chains  of  a  criminal,  or  die  in  the  almshouse,  as  the 
result  of  drink?  And  so  if  I  could  vote  in  your 
state  in  June,  I  should  just  ask  what  would  be  the 
relation  of  the  grogshop  to  that  boy  of  mine. 

You  may  say,   "  I  have  no  boys ;  I  have  girls." 

A  gentleman,  some  years  ago,  came  into  my  office 
and  said  to  me,  "What  are  the  divorce  laws  of  this 
state?" 

I  said,  "I  hope  you  are  not  going  to  apply  for  a 
divorce.  It  is  an  exceedingly  disagreeable  kind  of 
litigation." 

A  couple  of  ladies  had  come  in  with  him.  I  saw 
one  was  an  old  lady  with  gray  hair,  the  other  young, 
with  care  lines  visible  in  her  face,  and  a  look  of 
mental  misery  and  suffering  there. 

"  Consider,  Mr.  Finch,  I  have  just  one  girl,"  the 
man  said,  and  he  introduced  me  to  her,  "the  light 
of  our  home;  and  if  she  is  here,  I  want  to  say 
to  you  she  is  just  as  good  a  girl  as  God  ever 
gave  a  father.  She  was  always  kind  to  her  mother. 
There  never  was  a  time  when  it  was  necessary 
to  punish  her  in  our  home;  if  she  did  wrong 
she  was  ready  to  come  and  ask  forgiveness.  She 


136   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

married  a  man  whom  I  thought  was  worthy  of 
her.  "We  did  not  know  he  drank,  but  he  did.  Five 
years  ago,  Mr.  Finch,  they  were  married.  God  has 
given  them  one  child.  The  father  drank  more  and 
more.  My  daughter  did  not  tell  me  for  a  long  time ; 
she  would  not  let  us  know  how  she  was  suffering,  but, 
Mr.  Finch,  one  night  her  husband  went  home  and 
knocked  her  down  with  a  chair."  The  old  man 
stepped  forward,  raised  the  hair  from  her  forehead  and 
showed  the  scar.  "  Struck  her,"  continued  the  man, 
"  struck  her  like  a  brute,  the  man  who  had  sworn  to 
love  and  honor  her.  He  took  her  from  our  arms, 
the  light  from  our  home,  and  then  abused  her  like  a 
dog." 

Gentlemen  and  ladies,  such  may  be  your  story 
some  day.  The  little  girl  who  comes  to  you  now 
with  bright  eyes  and  loving  lips,  who  runs  and 
brings  the  slippers  as  you  come  home  from  business, 
may  return  to  you  one  day  with  a  broken  heart,  her 
life  cursed  by  a  man  who  has  been  ruined  in  a  saloon 
that  you  voted  to  continue.  When  you  come  to 
make  up  your  verdict,  take  into  consideration  your 
home  interest. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  there  is  one  thing  dear  as 
these  are,  that  is  still  higher:  the  thought  of  how 
God  would  have  you  act. 

I  would  not  dare  to  go  to  the  polls  on  the  27th  of 
June  and  cast  a  vote  that  I  could  not  ask  God  to 
bless.  My  friends,  as  you  go  there  and  vote,  if  you 
are  Christian  men,  let  that  determine  it.  If  you 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ISSUES  AND  DEFENSE.       137 

vote  to  continue  the  saloons,  of  course  you  are  will- 
ing to  pray  God  to  prosper  the  saloon,  to  ask  that 
its  customers  may  increase. 

So,  if  I  were  on  the  jury  I  would  take  into 
consideration  my  home  interests,  the  interests  of  my 
country,  the  approval  of  my  God,  and  then  examin- 
ing the  facts,  I  would  vote  either  to  shut  the  saloons 
or  to  continue  them,  as  my  judgment  and  conscience 
dictated. 

Gentlemen,  when  you  have  written  your  verdict  on 
the  27th  of  June,  it  will  either  roll  Iowa  up  to  the 
plane  of  the  civilization  of  Kansas  and  Maine,  or 
allow  her  to  remain  down  in  the  old  darkness  of  com- 
promise and  partnership  with  wrong.  God  grant  that 
Iowa  may  lead  the  way  through  which  my  state  may 
follow,  and  the  other  states  of  this  nation,  until  in  all 
the  galaxy  of  American  states  there  shall  not  be  one 
that  will  license  a  business  to  ruin  its  citizens,  to 
debauch  its  morality,  or  to  break  down  its  institutions. 

"  The  crisis  is  upon  us  ?  face  to  face  with  us  it  stands, 

With  solemn  lips  of  questioning,  like  the  Sphynx  in  Egypt  sands. 

This  day  we  fashion  destiny,  the  web  of  life  we  spin, 

This  day  for  all  hereafter  choose  we  holiness  or  sin. 

Even  now  from  misty  Gerizim,  or  EbaFs  cloudy  crown, 

Call  we  the  dews  of  blessing  .or  the  bolts  of  cursing  down." 


10 


V. 
THE  DEFENSE  EEVIEWED. 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPEKA  HOUSE,  IOWA  CITY,  IOWA, 
SUNDAY  EVENING,  MAY  7,  1882. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — Never  was  a  more 
plainly,  fully  and  fairly  defined  issue  submitted  to 
any  people,  than  the  one  now  pending  in  this  state. 
The  case  is  entitled,  "The  People  vs.  The  Saloons." 
The  American  saloon  is  on  trial  for  high  crimes 
against  society,  and  treason  against  the  government. 
The  terrible  charges  against  it  are  made  by  the 
people,  openly,  boldly,  and  emphatically.  The  only 
thing  its  defenders  can,  do  is  to  show  that  the  traffic 
is  not  guilty ;  that  the  charges  are  unfounded  in  fact. 
"Guilty,  or  not  guilty?"  is  the  question  asked  by 
the  people,  and  it  must  be  answered. 

The  charges  must  be  disproved  or  the  saloons 
must  die.  The  position  taken  by  the  drunkard-mak- 
ers and  their  friends  is  not  fair,  honest,  or  decent. 
Their  first  defense  is  personal  slander,  lying  and 
mud-throwing.  They  evidently  hope  thereby  to  turn 
the  attention  of  the  people  from  the  real  criminal  in 
the  case.  It  is  the  old  dodge  of  the  watch-thief,  who, 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.          139 

when  pursued  by  officers  with  the  cry  "  stop  thief!" 
joins  in  the  cry,  to  turn  public  attention  from  him- 
self. 

Once,  when  a  boy,  my  father  told  an  elder  brother 
that  if  he  and  I  would  take  care  of  the  ducks  on 
the  farm  during  the  summer,  we  might  have  all  the 
joung  ones  we  could  raise.  During  the  summer  we 
took  good  care  of  the  ducks,  and,  I  think,  had  eighty- 
six  in  the  fall.  The  visions  of  skates  and  sleds  grew 
apace.  The  duck  pen  was  near  the  stream,  and  one 
night  an  intruder  dug  in  and  killed  several  of  the 
ducks.  A  trap  was  set,  but  the  next  night  he  dug 
around  it  and  continued  his  depredations.  At  last, 
brother  and  I  determined  to  sit  up  and  watch.  The 
gun  was  duly  loaded,  and  we  sat  down  near  the  pen. 
Boon  after  midnight  the  sound  of  alarm  among  the 
ducks  told  us  the  enemy  was  there.  We  rushed  to 
the  pen — blocked  up  the  hole  and  caught  him;  but, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  has  always  been  a  question, 
which  was  the  worst  punished,  the  dead  animal  or 
the  boys  whose  clothes  he  spoiled.  That  experience 
taught  me  never  to  fight  skunks,  whether  quadruped 
or  biped,  unless  I  did  it  with  a  long  pole ;  and  in  this 
contest  I  shall  not  change  the  rule,  whether  the  ani- 
mal be  a  victim  of  the  saloon  or  an  apostate  minis- 
ter who,  Judas-like,  having  sold  his  Master,  is  now 
scorned  and  despised  even  by  those  who  bought  him. 

The  temperance  leaders  will  press  the  charges — - 
simply  seeking  to  force  a  fair,  honest  and  full  trial 
of  the  case, — and  if  the  other  side  fail  to  meet  the 


140      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS.  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

issues,  or  resort  to  mud-throwing,  as  their  dirty  tools 
are  now  doing,  it  will  be  an  admission  of  the  guilt 
of  the  traffic,  and  simply  show  how  low,  ignorant, 
vile  and  mean  its  hirelings  are. 

To  thinking  men  their  present  contortions,  eva- 
sions, quibbles,  foolish  statements  and  lying  must 
be  disgusting.  The  issue  is  plain ;  a  child  can  un- 
derstand ;  but 

"  They  wiggle  in  and  wiggle  out, 
Leaving  the  hunter  still  in  doubt, 
Whether  the  snake  that  made  the  track 
Was  going  out  or  coming  back." 

By  such  a  course  they  enter  a  plea  of  guilty  to  the 
charges,  and  their  evasions  are  simply  made  in  hopes 
of  reducing  the  nature  and  force  of  the  inevitable 
verdict.  They  are  like  the  condemned  murderer  who 
is  anxious  to  have  his  sentence  commuted  to  im- 
prisonment for  life.  Their  boldest  leaders  are  will- 
ing to  enter  a  plea  of  guilty,  if  the  people  will  make 
the  verdict  imprisonment  in  high-license  pens,  rather 
than  the  death  penalty  of  prohibition. 

In  Nebraska  we  have  tried  high  license.  It  is  a 
fraud  and  a  failure.  The  saloon-keepers  do  not  try 
to  enforce  the  law  against  illicit  selling.  There  is 
more  liquor  sold  in  the  drug  stores  of  my  state  as  a 
beverage  than  in  the  drug  stores  of  your  state.  If 
will  take  more  force,  more  power  to  enforce  a  high- 
license  law  than  complete  and  entire  prohibition.  But, 
as  this  plea  for  a,  reduction  of  penalty  has  been 
entered,  let  us  to-night  examine  the  quibbles  on 
which  it  is  asked. 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.  141 

Their  first  defense — the  one  urged  more  than  all 
•others — :I  wish  to  read  from  their  own  papers.  It  is 
AS  follows: 

"It  is  more  than  twenty -four  years  ago,  that  the  people  of  Iowa 
solemnly  enacted  that  the  business  of  brewing  beer  should  be 
thenceforth  a  legal  industry.  This  was  done  with  full  understand- 
ing and  knowledge  that  it  necessarily  implied  the  investment  of 
capital  in  property  devoted  to  that  business,  and  that  such  legis- 
lation, in  the  nature  of  things,  ought  to  be  permanent,  and  not  a 
trap  set  to  catch  the  confiding. 

"We  were  justified  in  believing  that  this  was  to  be  the  settled 
policy  of  the  state;  and  we  have,  relying  in  good  faith  upon  the 
fairness  and  honesty  of  the  people,  invested  our  means  in  this 
business." 

These  men  say:  "  If  this  amendment  passes,  it  will 
confiscate  the  saloons,  breweries  and  distilleries." 
An  editor  in  your  own  city  says:  "  It  is  an  axe-and- 
torch  amendment."  "  The  government  has  no  right 
to  destroy  the  saloons  of  Iowa,"  is  the  claim  made. 
That  the  state  has  the  right  to  destroy  the  business 
of  liquor-selling,  is  settled.  In  the  language  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States:  "It  is  the 
undoubted  and  reserved  power  of  every  state  here, 
as  a  political  body,  to  decide,  independent  of  any 
provisions  made  by  Congress,  though  subject  not  to 
conflict  with  any  of  them  when  rightful,  who  shall 
compose  its  population,  who  become  its  residents, 
who  its  citizens,  who  enjoy  the  privileges  of  its  laws, 
and  be  entitled  to  their  protection  and  favor,  and  what 
kind  of  property  and  business  it  will  tolerate  and 
_protecV 

The  state  having  the  right  to  destroy  the  saloon, 


14:2      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  question  for  you,  citizens  of  Iowa,  to  determine  is, 
would  such  action  be  right  and  just.  The  state  is  a 
society  of  right, — justice  is  its  fundamental  idea.  In 
this  case  Iowa  cannot  afford  to  be  unjust. 

Investigation  will  show  that  states  have  always 
claimed  the  power  to  destroy,  both  directly  and  indi- 
rectly, trades  that  stood  in  the  way  of  the  advance- 
ment of  the  race. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  state  of  New  York 
allowed  lotteries  to  exist  in  her  great  cities;  but, 
after  trial,  it  became  evident  that  the  business 
was  debauching  the  morals  and  intelligence  of  its 
people;  and  its  legislature  said  to  the  lottery  dealers: 
"You  have  forfeited  every  right  to  stay  in  society, 
and  you  must  stop."  These  dealers  had  thousands 
of  dollars  invested  in  their  great  buildings  and  in 
their  advertisements,  tickets  and  machinery.  But 
as  soon  as  it  was  demonstrated  that  the  business  of 
conducting  lotteries  was  an  enemy  to  public  morals, 
the  state,  obeying  the  law  of  self-defense,  killed  the 
business,  and  that  ended  it. 

Some  years  ago,  another  class  of  individuals — I 
will  not  call  them  men,  they  do  not  deserve  the 
name — made  money  by  printing  obscene  literature. 
Over  this  country  they  spread  it,  in  schools  and 
private  homes,  everywhere.  It  was  allowed  to  con- 
tinue for  a  long  time,  until  the  detectives  in  our 
great  cities  commenced  to  see  the  harvest  which  was 
being  reaped  by  the  state.  Thousands  of  men  and 
women  were  debauched  and  ruined  through  this 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.          143 

terrible  business.  The  state  saw  that  a  great  ulcer 
was  located  on  its  life,  and  it  took  the  scalpel  of  law 
and  cut  it  out,  and  to-day  it  is  a  penitentiary  offense 
to  send  such  literature  through  the  mails. 

Years  before  railroads  reached  the  state  of  Iowa, 
there  were  thousands  of  coaches  carrying  the  mails 
and  passengers  across  the  state.  I  think  Iowa  City 
was  one  of  the  old  stage-coach  stations.  Men  had 
thousands  of  dollars  invested  in  coaches  and.  horses. 
The  state  had  chartered  these  coach  lines,  but  the 
day  came  when  the  state  said:  "It  is  for  the  best 
interest  of  this  state  that  we  have  railroads.''  It 
chartered  the  railroads  and  killed  the  stage  coach 
dead  as  a  hammer.  The  state  asserted  the  right 
Did  the  state  pay  for  these  coaches?  Did  some  of 
them  rot  down  in  your  streets? 

In  examining  the  first  defense,  the  most  noticeable 
thing  about  it  is  its  falsehoods.  It  says:  "The 
people  of  Iowa  solemnly  enacted  that  the  business  of 
brewing  should  be  thenceforth  a  legal  industry." 
"  We  were  justified  in  believing  that  this  was  to  be 
the  settled  policy  of  the  state."  Remember  the  rule 
of  law — "  False  in  one,  false  in  all."  What  are  the 
facts?  The  decision  of  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States  was  given  years  ago.  Every  saloon 
man  in  the  state  of  Iowa  at  that  time  knew  such 
decision  had  been  made.  Not  a  single  man  who  is 
selling  liquor  to-day  in  the  state  was  selling  it  then. 
A  decision  was  made  by  the  supreme  court;  the 
right  of  the  people  was  affirmed ;  the  people  were 


144   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

inclined  to  assert  that  right;  the  liquor  men  knew 
it;  they  bet  their  money  on  the  chances  as  a  gambler 
bets  his  money  on  a  pack  of  cards ;  and  now,  as  they 
are  about  to  be  beaten  at  their  own  games,  they  are 
pleading  the  baby  act,  or,  like  the  school-boy,  want 
to  trade  back.  Did  anybody  compel  them  to  go  into 
the  business?  They  knew  that  the  question  of  its 
being  stopped  was  being  agitated.  They  took  the 
chances.  The  statement  that  they  had  reason  to 
thiiik  license  would  be  the  settled  policy  is  false. 

"  But  what  about  the  people  enacting  that  brewing 
should  be  a  legal  industry?" 

In  the  year  1855,  the  people  of  this  state,  by  a 
vote  of  25,555  for,  and  22,645  against,  prohibited  the 
liquor  traffic  in  this  state.  Notice,  now:  the  people 
did  this;  the  liquor  men  then  had  no  rights  in  the 
state  whatever.  The  people  had  asserted  it.  A  few 
years  rolled  away,  and  the  drunkard-makers  went  to 
your  legislature — they  did  not  go  to  the  people," — 
they  went  to  a  few  designing  demagogues  among  your 
politicians,  and  said:  "  If  you  will  knock  a  hole  in  the 
people's  law,  in  defiance  of  the  people's  verdict,  we 
will  guarantee  to  one  of  your  political  parties  a  cer- 
tain support." 

Honest  men,  if  they  had  thought  the  people  had 
wronged  them,  would  have  gone  to  the  people  to 
ask  for  a  rehearing  of  the  case  on  its  merits.  This 
they  did  not  do.  They  dared  not  go  before  the 
people.  They  simply  attempted  to  defraud  the  peo- 
ple of  the  state.  The  politicians  entered  into  the 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.          145 

•coalition,  and,  in  defiance  of  the  people,  the  traffic 
was  readmitted.  The  business  to-day  stands  in  Iowa 
as  a  thief,  who  had  broken  into  your  house,  would 
stand.  The  liquor  men  know  their  business  is  here 
by  fraud, — that  they  are  trespassers  on  the  people's 
domain.  Here  in  Iowa,  by  contract  with  political 
demagogues,  the  traffic  has  not  even  kept  its  contract 
with  them.  The  liquor  men  ask  justice — it  shall  be 
given  them.  Those  who  ask  equity  must  show 
equity.  A  contract  secured  by  fraudulent  represen- 
tations is  void. 

What  equity  do  the  liquor  men  show?  What 
representations  did  they  make  to  secure  the  re-ad- 
mission of  their  business  to  this  state  ? 

They  said:  "We  will  only  sell  wine,  beer  and 
cider."  They  have  sold  all  kinds  of  liquors. 

They  said:  "We  will  not  sell  liquors  to  minors, 
drunkards,  or  on  Sunday."  Each  of  these  provisions 
they  have  persistently  violated. 

What  have  they  not  done?  The  celebrated  Ger- 
man A.  F.  Hofer  says: 

"The  saloon-keeper  has  put  the  manacles  on  his  own  hands.  He 
has  forged  the  hand-cuffs  that  are  put  upon  him  by  a  hundred 
enactments  of  law.  He  has  wrought  the  chain  of  statutes,  link  by 
link,  that  is  slowly  crushing  the  life  out  of  his  business.  And  now 
he  has  attached 'the  heavy  ball  to  that  chain  which  will  drag  not 
only  his  business  but  the  manufacturer  who  supplies  him  down  to 
perdition.  The  senate  has  passed  the  constitutional  amendment 
which  will  forever  banish  the  retail  liquor  business  outside  of  the 
pale  of  tolerated  occupations,  and  which  forever  brands  it  as  con- 
traband in  our  commonwealth.  It  has  culminated  into  a  thunder- 
bolt welded  into  our  fundamental  law. 


146   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

"  We  say  the  saloon-keeper  has  brought  upon  himself  the  terri- 
ble forces  and  rigors  of  the  laws.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
old  Iowa  law,  which  treated  the  sale  of  liquors  as  any  other  mer- 
chandise. He  abused  its  leniency  shamefully.  He  was  not  satis- 
fied with  the  original  Maine  law,  which  enabled  him  to  avoid  dis- 
pensing the  more  poisonous  alcoholic  liquors  and  relieved  him  of 
responsibility  as  to  civil  damage.  He  abused  the  law  like  a  dog. 
He  brought  upon  himself  the  law  which  made  him  responsible  for 
all  damage  flowing  out  from  the  sale  of  what  flowed  in.  He  was 
not  satisfied  with  that,  but  next  involved  the  owner  of  property  in 
which  he  kept  saloon.  Next  he  pbused  the  liberality  of  the  privi- 
leges so  that  the  Two-Mile  Act  and  the  election  laws  were  forged, 
and  hung  about  his  insubmissive  neck."  • 

The  people,  then,  answer  the  first  defense  by  the 
following  facts; 

1st.  The  statements  upon  which  the  liquor  traffic 
secured  admission  into  this  state  were  absolutely  and 
wholly  false. 

2d.  The  traffic  has  violated  every  provision  of  the 
contract.  It  has  never  obeyed  the  law.  It  is  an 
outlaw,  and  has  by  its  own  acts  shown  that  it  must 
be  treated  as  such. 

The  law  prohibits  the  sale  of  distilled  liquors. 
Have  the  liquor-sellers  obeyed  it  or  have  they 
violated  it? 

The  law  says,  "  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  person 
to  sell  or  give  away,  by  agent  or  otherwise,  any  spir- 
ituous or  other  intoxicating  liquors,  including  wine 
or  beer,  to  any  minor  for  any  purpose  whatsoever, 
unless  on  the  written  order  of  his  parent,  guardian,  or 
family  physician."  Have  they  obeyed  this  provision 
of  the  law,  or  have  they  violated  it?  Are  they  in 
a  condition  to  come  into  the  court  of  the  people  and 


THE  DEFENSE  BEVIEWED.  147 

plead  a  violation  of  contract?  The  law  continues: 
"Or  to  sell  the  same  to  any  intoxicated  person,  or 
any  person  in  the  habit  of  becoming  intoxicated." 
Have  they  kept  this  provision  of  the  law,  or  have 
they  violated  it?  The  law  says,  "  It  shall  be  unlaw- 
ful for  any  person  willfully  to  sell  or  keep  for  sale 
intoxicating,  malt  or  vinous  liquors  which  have  been 
adulterated  or  drugged  by  admixture  with  any  dele- 
terious or  poisonous  substance."  Have  they  kept  this 
provision  of  the  law,  or  have  they  violated  it?  The 
law  provides,  "  It  shall  be  unlawful  to  buy  or  sell 
property  of  any  kind  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
commonly  called  Sabbath."  Have  they  kept  this 
provision  of  the  law,  or  have  they  violated  it  ? 

The  rule  of  law  is,  if  I  make  a  contract  with  you 
to  do  certain  things  and  fail  to  fulfill  my  part  of  the 
contract,  I  have  no  remedy  against  you  in  law,  equity 
or  natural  justice  for  injury  which  your  failure  to 
fulfill  your  part  may  do  to  me.  If  the  liquor  men  of 
this  state  have  obtained  admission  here  by  fraudulent 
representations,  they  have  no  right  in  equity,  in  jus- 
tice or  common  honesty  to  come  before  this  people 
and  demand  that  the  people  shall  longer  continue  a 
system  introduced  by  lies  and  living  in  outlawry. 
They  must  come  with  clean  hands  into  this  court. 
This  they  cannot  do.  Their  hands  are  not  clean. 
With  such  a  record,  their  cry  of  injustice  reminds 
one  of  the  young  man  who  murdered  his  father  and 
mother, — when  placed  on  trial  he  asked  the  judge  to 
be  merciful  to  him  because  he  was  an  orphan. 


148       THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

If  the  liquor  business  had  not  injured  the  state, 
it  would  not  be  on  trial  for  its  life  to-day.  It  has 
only  its  own  vile  record  to  meet. 

Certain  of  the  liquor  men  abandoning  the  contest, 
-ask :  "Are  you  not  going  to  pay  us  for  our  business  ?" 
Certainly,  the  people  would  not  let  you  go  without 
.settling ;  they  want  to  force  you  to  settle  by  the 
exact  line.  If  you  make  a  contract  with  me  to  go 
upon  my  farm  and  then  after  a  while  are  ejected  for 
violation  of  contract,  and  sue  me  for  damage,  I  would 
set  up  the  damage  which  you  have  done  to  the  farm. 
My  liquor  friends,  make  up  your  bill.  Charge  up 
the  saloon,  brewery,  distillery,  every  trapping  and 
fixture  you  have,  in  one  bill.  All  that  the  temper- 
ance men  ask  is,  that  you  give  them  a  chance  to  file 
against  you  a  bill  for  the  damage  you  have  done 
Iowa  in  the  past  twenty-four  years.  They  want  you 
to  indemnify  every  wife  whose  home  you  have  ruined ; 
every  little  boy  you  have  cursed;  return  to  the  tax- 
payers every  dollar  they  have  paid  out  to  maintain  a 
police  force,  to  run  asylums,  prisons  and  alinshouses 
to  take  care  of  your  products.  Pour  back  into  Iowa's 
treasury  the  money  you  have  taken  from  it,  and, 
after  the  balance  is  struck,  if  the  people  owe  you 
anything  they  will  pay  it.  Will  you  do  it?  Put  in 
your  bill  to-morrow  and  let  the  WORLD  see  who  is 
the  debtor. 

If  the  liquor  men  of  this  state  were  compelled  to 
return  to  Iowa  what  they  have  taken  from  it  they 
would  be  beggars,  and  they  know  it.  They  had  no 


THE  DEFENSE  BEVIEWED.          149 

money  when  they  started  a  few  years  ago.  Now  look 
at  their  great  distilleries,  breweries  and  palatial 
saloons.  Where  did  they  get  the  money  to  build 
them  ?  By  making  drunkards  of  the  people.  They 
have  taken  it  from  the  wife,  the  baby.  They  have 
ruined  the  home-life  of  the  state  of  Iowa ;  and  now 
when  they  have  amassed  their  millions  by  beggaring 
the  people  they  turn  around  and  whimper  because 
the  people  will  not  let  them  continue  this  accursed 
business.  They  ought  to  be  content  with  the  ill- 
gotten  gains  which  the  state  has  given  them  twenty- 
four  years  to  take  from  the  people.  I  do  not  doubt 
they  feel  bad.  It  is  pitiful,  when  men  have  been 
supported  in  idleness  and  grown  rich  by  the  ruin  of 
others,  to  force  them  into  honest  callings  and  avoca- 
tions, and  compel  them  to  benefit  the  world  in  return 
for  the  blessings  the  world  gives  them.  In  their 
days  of  disconsolation  and  sorrow  the  old  lady's- 
scripture  may  soothe  them  and  keep  up  their  rapidly 
falling  spirits. 

A  minister  once  called  on  an  old  lady  who  was  a 
member  of  his  congregation  and  said  to  her; 
"Aunt  Sally,  how  are  you  getting  along?" 
She  replied:  "  Not  very  well,  elder.     Sal's  run  off 
with  the  hired  man ;  John  is  gettin'   upstropolous, 
and  the  pigs  have  eat  up  the  garden  truck.     But  in 
my  trials  and  tribulations  there's  jest  one  passage 
o'  scripter  that  allus  consoles  me  heart,  nerves  me 
for  the  trials  to  come  and  brings  me  nearer  the 
throne." 


150      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Said  the  minister,   "Aunt  Sally,  what  is  that?" 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  I  don't  remember  jest  whether 
it's  in  Proverbs  or  in  Psalms  where  it  says,  'Grin 
and  bear  it.' ' 

This  scripture  I  commend  to  the  drunkard-makers 
of  this  state  in  this  hour  of  their  approaching 
defeat. 

The  second  defense  urged  is: 

"Beer  is  comparatively  a  harmless  beverage,  con- 
taining only  about  four  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  and 
experience  has  shown  that  its  use  tends  to  diminish 
the  amount  of  distilled  liquors  required,  and  thereby 
decreases  drunkenness  and  promotes  temperance." 

You  see  they  are  fighting  for  the  beer  in  this  coun- 
try. They  tell  you  the  people  have  no  right  to  in- 
terfere with  the  social  customs  of  the  German,  be- 
cause he  used  to  drink  beer  in  Germany,  but  the 
poor  Irishman  who  used  to  drink  whisky  in  Ireland 
cannot  legally  get  a  nip  in  Iowa.  If  I  was  an  Irish- 
man living  in  this  state,  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
to  show  that  I  was  as  good  as  a  German,  I  would 
vote  for  this  amendment,  and  get  even  with  them. 
I  submit  as  a  matter  of  fact,  if  the  German  has  a 
right  to  his  national  beverage,  the  Irishman  has  a 
right  to  his;  and  it  is  the  worst  kind  of  dema- 
goguery  that  will  refuse  Pat  a  nip  and  give  the 
German  all  he  wants. 

I  am  glad  I  have  so  many  students  around  me  as 
I  take  up  this  beer  issue,  for  a  knowledge  of  history 
will  help  impress  the  point.  Saloon-men  say  that 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.  151 

distilled  spirits  cause  the  drunkenness  of  this  land. 
The  process  of  distillation  was  first  taught  by  Albu- 
casis  or  Casa,  of  Arabia.  It  was  kept  closely  in  the 
Arabian  school  of  alchemy  for  more  than  two  cen- 
turies. Distilled  liquor  was  not  used  as  a  beverage 
until  the  fourteenth  century.  Take  brandy,  whisky, 
gin,  etc.,  and  none  of  them  have  a  history  of  more 
than  eight  hundred  years ;  yet  I  stand  here  with  this 
audience  of  students  and  scholars  and  say  that  the 
worst  drunkenness  the  world  ever  saw  was  before 
distillation  was  known;  that  the  drunkenness  of 
Greece,  of  Home,  of  Babylon,  and  even  of  Jerusa- 
lem, was  a  drunkenness  unknown  in  modern  history 
and  unknown  to  the  modern  student.  This  drunken- 
ness was  the  drunkenness,  not  of  distilled,  but  of 
fermented  liquors.  Strong  liquors  were  fermented 
and  drugged  with  opium  or  other  narcotics.  The 
Jews  never  knew  of  such  a  thing  as  distilled  liquors ; 
neither  did  the  Greeks  or  Phoenicians.  It  is  com- 
paratively a  modern  art.  Before  the  brewers  can 
write  that  fermented  liquors  do  not  make  drunkards, 
and  make  the  people  believe-  it,  they  must  blot  out 
the  history  of  the  past  entirely,  or  prove  that  the 
nations  that  went  down  in  drunkenness  fell  by  some 
other  means  than  drinking  wine  and  beer.  Babylon 
and  other  nations  died  from  wine  and  beer  drinking, 
and  their  history  contradicts  flatly  the  second  propo- 
sition of  the  defenders  of  the  traffic! 

The  third  defense  urged  is: 

"It  is  an  attempt  to  pass,  or,  rather,  to  create  a 


152   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

sumptuary  law  which  has  for  its  object  the  restraint 
of  individual  rights,  and  is,  therefore,  contrary  to 
the  principles  of  our  republican  institutions." 

Webster  defines  sumptuary  laws  to  be  "  such  as 
restrain  or  limit  the  expenses  of  citizens  in  apparel, 
food,  furniture  and  the  like."  If  laws  prohibiting 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquors  are  sumptuary, 
then  the  laws  prohibiting  houses  of  prostitution, 
gambling  hells,  the  sale  of  diseased  meat,  and  quar- 
antining small-pox  and  yellow-fever  are  sumptuary. 
I  have  no  patience  with  men  who  presume  on  the 
ignorance  of  the  people.  A  person  who  will  speak 
of  a  law  prohibiting  the  traffic  in  intoxicants  as 
sumptuary,  is  either  an  illiterate  ass,  a  conceited 
idiot,  or  a  political  trickster. 

The  fourth  defense  is: 

"  It  is  an  invasion  of  natural  rights." 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  natural  right  to  drink 
whisky,  because  in  nature  such  a  thing  as  whisky  or 
beer  is  unknown.  God  never  created  alcohol.  You 
may  take  corn  and  pile  it  up  as  high  as  heaven  and 
let  it  rot  to  earth — every  hour  of  its  decomposition 
test  it  with  the  most  delicate  chemical  tests,  and  you 
will  never  find  alcohol  in  the  process  of  rotting.  I 
have  taken  grapes  from  the  table  in  my  office  and 
crushed  them,  not  enough  to  break  the  starch  cells, — 
tested  them  until  the  blue  mold  had  eaten  them  up, 
and  alcohol  did  not  appear  during  the  process  of 
decay.  God  does  not  rot  things  that  way.  Alcohol 
comes  in  when  mechanical  force  is  used  to  break  the 


THE  DEFENSE  BEVIEWED.          153 

starch  cells  and  bring  the  starch  in  contact  with  the 
juice.  You  must  have  the  starch  in  connection  with 
the  juice  when  this  unnatural  kind  of  fermentation 
takes  place.  "But,"  objects  one,  "if  God  did  not 
create  alcohol,  he  did  create  the  laws  that  cause  the 
formation  of  alcohol."  Granted.  God  made  iron. 
He  made  the  laws  of  cohesion  and  adhesion,  but 
God  did  not  make  butcher-knives,  and  what  would 
you  think  of  the  intelligence  of  a  man  who  would 
prate  about  a  natural  appetite  for  butcher-knives! 
God  created  the  laws  that  govern  the  formation  of 
gunpowder,  but  nowhere  in  God's  universe  can  you 
find  gunpowder  existing  as  the  result  of  natural  pro- 
cesses. What  would  you  think  of  a  man  who  would 
prate  about  a  natural  appetite  for  gunpowder!  A 
natural  appetite  for  something  that  is  unnatural  is  a 
thing  that  no  man  can  understand;  hence,  you  see, 
the  right  is  not  a  natural  one. 

In  order  to  understand  the  primary  principles  un- 
derlying this  reform,  let  us  see  what  you  mean  by 
the  terms  natural  appetite  or  desire.  You  say:  "I 
have  an  appetite  for  liquor,"  and  yet  no  man  ever 
had  a  natural  appetite  for  any  kind .  of  alcoholic 
liquors.  You  say,  "  I  think  I  have."  Appetite  is  a 
demand  for  supplies.  In  the  school,  in  the  store,  in 
the  office,  you  keep  up  a  certain  amount  of  muscular 
force;  then  you  become  hungry.  What  is  hunger? 
A  demand  for  supplies.  The  body  asks  you  to  sup- 
ply it  something  out  of  which  it  may  make  force  to 
take  the  place  of  the  force  you  have  used  up.  You 


154:      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

go  to  the  table,  eat  slowly,  masticate  the  food  thor- 
oughly, and  when  you  get  up  and  go  away,  where  is 
your  appetite  ?  A  demand  for  supplies,  and  when 
the  supplies  are  furnished  it  is  satisfied.  Go  to  the 
saloon.  You  say:  "  I  have  an  appetite  for  liquor." 
Drink  one  glass.  Do  you  not  want  the  second,  then 
the  third  and  fourth,  more  than  the  second  ?  My  liquor 
friend,  you  grant  me  the  proposition  when  you  say: 
"  I  have  will-power  enough  to  stop."  You  do  not 
use  will-power  to  stop  eating  pork  and  beans  when 
you  have  enough.  The  difference  is  this:  When 
you  give  a  natural  appetite  what  it  asks  for,  it  is  sat- 
isfied ;  when  you  give  a  diseased  craving  what  it  asks 
for,  it  asks  for  more. 

If  we  follow  out  this  thought  it  will  meet  another 
sophistry  often  urged  by  the  liquor  men,  viz.,  that 
the  liquor  business  of  this  country  is  governed  by 
the  same  laws  of  political  economy  that  govern  the 
sale  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  You  ask  what  they 
mean.  They  answer:  "You  must  do  away  with 
the  demand  and  the  supply  will  cease.  It  is  the  de- 
mand which  creates  the  supply."  Did  you  ever  hear 
this  statement!  There  is  not  a  student  before  me 
but  knows  this  statement  of  the  law  is  not  cor- 
rect. The  true  rule  of  political  economy  is  this: 
In  the  case  of  absolute  necessaries  the  supply  is 
brought  into  existence  by  the  demand,  but  in  the 
case  of  created  luxuries  the  supply  brings  into  ex- 
istence the  demand.  Let  me  state  it  again :  In  the 
case  of  absolute  necessaries,  the  supply  is  created 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.  155 

TDV  the  demand,  but  in  the  case  of  created  luxuries 
the  supply  creates  the  demand.  There  is  a  natural 
demand  for  food ;  you  must  have  it  or  die.  I  met  a 
man  in  Fort  McPherson  who  had  traveled  for  four 
days  and  eaten  nothing  but  a  raw  rattlesnake.  The 
demand  for  food  is  natural  and  must  be  satisfied. 
Food  being  an  absolute  necessity,  the  supply  follows 
the  demand.  In  this  climate  clothes  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  protect  the  body  from  the  inclemency 
of  the  weather.  Demand  for  these  creates  the  sup- 
ply. You  must  have  clothes  of  some  kind,  and  if 
you  fail  to  procure  them,  nature  will  supply  them  in 
part  by  causing  hair  to  grow  upon  the  body.  Now 
apply  the  law  to  luxuries. 

Diamonds  are  not  necessary  to  man's  existence. 
They  are  a  created  luxury.  A  man  goes  to  New 
York,  purchases  diamonds  and  brings  them  home. 
Does  he  lock  them  up  in.  a  sa,fe  until  you  come 
around  and  tell  him  you  want  them  ?  No ;  he  locks 
them  up  during  the  night  and  in  the  daytime  places 
them  in  the  show-case  where  persons  who  enter  his 
place  may  see  them.  Some  young  ladies  enter  who 
have  never  thought  of  diamonds,  and  they  see  the 
rings,  pins,  brooches,  and  necklaces.  One  exclaims, 
"Nell,  come  here!  Are  they  not  lovely?"  They 
admire  their  colors — "  Wish  I  had  them."  What 
caused  that  wish?  The  presence  of  the  luxury. 

What  are  you  thinking  about?  Well,  I  am  think- 
ing about  watermelons.  Now  they  are  not  neces- 
saries of  life.  They  are  a  luxury.  You  will  be 


156   THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

down  here  next  summer.  You  have  not  thought  of 
watermelons.  You  hear  the  musical  cry,  "  Water- 
melons!" As  soon  as  you  hear  it  there  will  be  a  de- 
mand for  the  melons.  "I  want  one  of  those  water- 
melons." The  demand  is  created  by  the  presence  of 
the  melons.  Even  in  a  case  where  necessaries  are 
combined  with  luxuries  this  is  the  rule  to  some  ex- 
tent. Hats  of  some  kind  are  necessary  in  this  coun- 
try. Suppose  a  milliner  has  received  some  new 
spring  hats.  Would^she  place  them  in  a  closet  and 
lock  them  up  until  some  lady  called  and  told  her  she 
wanted  one?  Not  much;  she  would  put  them  in  the 
show-case  where  every  lady  would  see  them.  A  couple 
come  along: 

"Is  it  not  a  beauty?" 

"  That's  a  jewel  of  a  bonnet." 

"And  those  colors!  Those  are  my  colors.  I 
wonder  how  I  would  look  with  it  on.  Let's  go  and 
see." 

They  go  in  and  she  puts  it  on  and  looks  at  herself ; 
and  then  she  says,  "Wish  I  had  it!"  What  created 
the  wish  ?  The  presence  of  the  bonnet. 

The  liquor  business  of  this  country  comes  under 
the  same  rule.  Alcoholic  liquor  is  not  an  absolute 
necessity.  Give  it  the  best  position  you  can  and  it 
is  a  dangerous  luxury.  Then  the  presence  of  it 
creates  the  demand  for  it. 

You  go  down  the  street — you  are  not  an  ab- 
stainer; you  do  not  care  for  a  drink.  A  saloon- 
keeper puts  a  big  sign  across  the  street,  "  Ice  cool 


THE  DEFENSE  KEVIEWED.  157 

lager."  The  presence  of  the  sign  together  with  the 
knowledge  that  the  beer  is  there  leads  you  to  go  in 
and  get  it.  If  it  was  further  away,  you  would  not 
think  of  it.  Said  the  general  manager  of  the  Union 
Pacific  to  a  friend  of  mine:  "By  closing  up  the 
saloons  near  our  workshops,  drunkenness  has  dimin- 
ished two-thirds  among  our  men.  When  the  boys 
were  passing  the  saloons  at  night,  they  would  get  a 
drink.  Now  when  they  have  to  go  three  or  four 
blocks  for  it  they  do  not  get  it." 

The  fifth  defense  is: 

"If  you  shut  up  the  saloons  they  will  sell  in  the 
drug-stores  and  in  holes." 

To  meet  this  it  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  ex- 
amine the  causes  of  drunkenness  in  this  country. 
What  makes  drunkards  ? 

A  liquor  man  exclaims,  "  Treating."  Yes,  sir, 
that  is  true.  Boys  go  into  the  saloon  to  play  bill- 
iards.— I  have  no  objection  to  billiards  as  a  scien- 
tific game,  although  I  think  it  makes  more  first- 
class  loafers  than  any  other  game.  —  Boys  go 
in  to  play  billiards;  go  up  to  the  bar,  turn  the 
glasses  full,  and  stand  there,  clink  their  glasses  and 
drink  to  each  other's  health.  Poets  and  novelists  of 
old  times  have  thrown  around  the  custom  of  drink- 
ing to  each  other's  health  a  sheen  of  romance. 
Break  up  the  saloon  and  where  is  your  treating? 
Where  will  it  be  sold  ?  In  a  drug-store  ?  Notice  a 
man  treating  in  a  drug-store.  He  looks  up  and  down 
the  street  and  then  sneaks  in  behind  the  prescription 
<jase  to  get  a  drink.  Is  not  that  romantic? 


158      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

But  they  say  it  will  be  sold  in  cellars.  Yes!  a 
man  will  sneak  through  an  alley-way,  down  a  back 
stairway  into  a  cellar  where  there  is  a  keg  of  whisky. 
He  finds  a  tin-cup  rusty  with  the  saliva  of  other  men 
who  have  drank  from  it.  Is  not  that  a  high-toned 
way  of  drinking?  Will  it  tempt  and  make  drunk- 
ards of  the  boys? 

Another  says:  ''They  will  carry  it  in  bottles." 
Yes ;  but  treating  with  bottles  is  not  specially  ro- 
mantic. A  wink  of  the  eye  leads  one  into  a  stall  in 
a  barn  or  around  behind  some  building  out  of  sight, 
where  the  bottle  is  drawn  from  the  pocket  and  passed 
over  to  the  friend.  He  takes  a  drink  and  passes  it 
back  to  the  owner,  who  takes  a  suck  off  the  same 
nose.  Now,  is  not  that  romantic,  especially  if  one 
drinker  chews  tobacco  and  the  other  does  not  ?  • 

No,  gentlemen,  when  you  have  broken  down  the 
lighted  bar,  when  you  make  this  business  outlawry, 
when  you  have  driven  it  into  holes — old  bummers 
may  get  it,  but  the  boys  of  this  country,  bright  and 
brave,  and  manly,  will  never  sneak  after  something 
for  which  they  have  not  learned  to  care.  Said  a 
leading  statesman  of  Maine  to  me,  "  Old  bummers 
of  Maine  kept  on  drinking,  but  we  have  a  genera- 
tion of  boys  who  have  grown  up  since  the  Maine 
law,  who  know  nothing  of  the  use  of  liquor.  Close 
the  saloons  and  treating  is  dead  and  the  boys  are  safe* 

The  sixth  defense  is: 

"  It  will  destroy  personal  liberty." 

Liquor-dealers  met  in  the  city  of  Des  Moines  and 


THE  DEFENSE  BEVIEWED.  159 

declared  that  they  were  the  defenders  of  personal 
liberty  in  this  country,  and  to-day  the  liquor  interest 
is  masquerading  as  the  champion  of  liberty;  and  a 
more  ridiculous  masquerade  I  never  saw. 

Gentlemen,  scholars,  what  is  the  foundation  of 
liberty  in  this  country?  Universities  like  yours  in 
Iowa  City,  your  schools  and  your  churches.  The 
foundation  of  liberty  is  intelligence  and  morality.  A 
drunken  and  debauched  people  can  never  maintain  a 
government  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by 
the  people.  My  liquor  friends,  before  you  step  out 
as  the  champions  of  liberty,  please  tell  us  what  you 
have  done  to  perpetuate  liberty  in  the  land?  How 
many  schools  have  you  erected?  Where  are  your 
colleges  ?  How  many  churches  have  you  built  ?  How 
many  hospitals  have  you  founded  ?  Show  me  a  thing 
you  have  ever  done  to  make  this  nation  better,  and 
grander,  and  truer. 

But  they  say:  "We  have  paid  taxes."  How?  The 
nation  wrung  it  out  of  you  by  police  officers  and 
internal  revenue  officers.  In  South  Carolina  and 
Tennessee  you  shot  them  dead  in  their  tracks,  and 
you  would  do  it  in  the  North  if  you  dared.  Where 
has  the  American  Brewers'  Congress  ever  built  a 
college,  or  the  Distillers'  Union  founded  a  church  ? 
When  have  they  done  a  thing  for  liberty  in  the 
world?  And  yet,  these  men,  who  have  only  made 
drunkards  and  debauched  the  people,  step  out  and 
claim  to  be  the  defenders  of  liberty !  The  Goddess 
of  Liberty  has  always  been  a  dear  goddess  to  me.  I 


160   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

used  to  read  stories  of  the  days  of  chivalry.  All 
boys  and  girls  love  to  read  such  books.  They  have 
their  ideas  of  the  old  heroes. 

Tall,  well-formed,  brave — such  is  the  ideal  knight. 
As  I  think  of  these  new  knights  of  liberty,  the 
thought  comes — how  are  the  mighty  fallen!  They 
are  not  tall,  but  they  make  up  for  height  by  breadth. 
To-night  you  ladies  are  to  go  home  with  your  loved 
ones.  Suppose  the  "  Goddess  of  Liberty"  had  been 
on  the  platform  during  the  meeting.  A  beer  wagon 
drives  up  in  front  of  the  hall,  and  a  typical  beer 
knight  waddles  up  to  the  platform  and  says :  "If  you 
(hie)  please,  you  are  (hie)  to  go  home  with  me." 

Think  of  it.  If  liberty  has  fallen  so  low  that 
her  defenders  are  the  class  of  men  who  debauch 
the  manhood,  and  womanhood,  and  civilization  of 
this  country,  God  pity  liberty.  The  idea  of  these 
men  arrogating  to  themselves  the  position  of  the 
special  champions  of  the  liberties  of  this  people  is 
absurd,  ridiculous  and  nonsensical.  It  makes  me 
think  of  an  illiterate  church-member  by  the  name  of 
Walker,  in  southern  Illinois.  During  a  revival 
where  his  spiritual  strength  had  been  renewed,  the 
idea  came  into  his  mind  that  he  must  preach.  He 
called  up  the  officers  of  the  church  and  told  them 
that  he  believed  God  had  given  him  a  special  call. 
They  expressed  some  doubts,  promised  to  consider 
his  case,  and  sent  him  away.  A  few  days  later,  he 
returned,  still  more  fully  impressed  that  it  was  his 
divine  mission  to  defend  the  religion  of  the  Lord 


THE  DEFENSE  BEVIEWED.  161 

Jesus  Christ  and  to  turn  sinners  from  the  path  of 
death.  The  officers  of  the  church  asked  him  if  he 
had  received  any  new  evidences  of  a  call.  He  re- 
sponded: "I  went  home  from  this  yer  meetin', 
troubled  an'  perplexed,  an'  the  nex'  day  I  went  ter 
visit  neighbor  Jones  on  the  hill.  Comin'  back  late 
in  the  evenin'  'cross  the  paster,  the  thought  come  to 
me  that  ef  God  had  reely  called  me  he  oughter  make 
it  manifest  to  me  thar.  So  I  jest  knelt  down  in  a 
clump  of  bushes,  raised  up  my  voice  in  prayer,  and 
asked  God  to  show  me  my  dooty  clear.  Jest  as  I  was 
a  prayin',  on  the  stillness  broke  an  awful  voice, 
sayin':  'Go,  W-a-alk-er,  W-a-lker,  Walker!— Go, 
Pr-e-e-a-cher,  Pr-e-a-cher,  Pr-e-a-a-ch-e-r-r-r .!' "  The 
officers  of  the  church  examined  the  source  of  the  call, 
and  found  that  it  was  a  jackass,  which,  alarmed  at 
his  praying,  had  commenced  to  bray.  For  the  life 
of  me  I  cannot  shake  off  the  idea  that  this  call  of 
the  liquor-dealers  as  the  defenders  of  liberty  must 
have  come  from  such  source.  But  what  is  their  cry? 
They  say,  "personal  liberty."  In  other  words,  they 
mean  sensual  or  natural  liberty. 

Lieber,  the  great  political  philosopher,  says,  in  his 
celebrated  work  on  political  ethics  as  revised  by 
Theodore  D.  Woolsey  (page  325) :  "This  untenable 
view  is  another  misconception  arising  out  of  the 
primary  error  of  a  natural  state  of  man  and  a  natural 
liberty  in  which  man  is  believed  to  be  absolutely 
without  any  restraint,  except  his  own  conscience  and 
understanding,  which,  however  it  would  appear,  must 


162   THE  PEOPLE  VEKSUS  THE  LIQUOB  TRAFFIC. 

yet  be  very  weak.  Civil  liberty,  therefore,  is  judged 
by  a  negative  standard.  That  is,  it  is  believed  the 
less  you  are  required  to  give  up  of  that  original  and 
perfect  natural  liberty,  the  greater  the  amount  of 
civil  liberty.  The  idea  is  radically  wrong.  Liberty, 
like  everything  else  of  a  political  character,  necessary 
and  natural  to  man  and  to  be  striven  for,  arises  out 
of  the  development  of  society.  Man,  in  that  sup- 
posed state  of  natural  liberty,  which  is  nothing  but 
a  roving  state,  is,  on  the  contrary,  in  a  state  of 
great  submission.  He  is  a  slave  and  servant  of  the 
elements.  Matter  masters  his  mind.  He  is  exposed 
to  the  wrongs  of  every  enemy  from  without  and 
dependent  upon  his  own  unregulated  mind.  This  is 
not  liberty.  It  is  plain  barbarism.  Liberty  is  ma- 
terially of  a  civil  character." 

Again  on  page  384:  "  Where  men  of  whatsoever 
condition — rulers  or  ruled,  those  that  toil  or  those 
that  enjoy,  individually,  or  by  entire  classes  or  na- 
tions— claim,  maintain  or  establish  rights  without  ac- 
knowledging corresponding  and  parallel  obligations, 
there  is  oppression,  lawlessness  and  disorder,  and 
the  very  ground  on  which  the  idea  of  all  right  must 
forever  rest — the  ground  of  mutuality  or  reciprocityy 
whether  considered  in  the  light  of  ethics  or  natural 
law,  must  sink  from  under  it.  It  is  natural,  there- 
fore, that  wherever  there  exists  a  greater  knowledge 
of  right  or  more  intense  attention  to  it  than  to  con- 
current and  proportionate  obligations,  evil  ensues. 
What  may  there  be  found  a  priori  is  pointed  out  by 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.          163 

history  as  one  of  its  gravest  and  greatest  morals. 
The  very  condition  of  right  is  obligation.  Tho  only 
reasonableness  of  obligations  consists  in  rights. 
Since,  therefore,  a  greater  degree  of  civil  liberty  im- 
plies the  enjoyment  of  more  extended  acknowledged 
rights,  man's  obligations  increase  with  man's  liberty. 
Let  us  then  call  that  freedom  of  action  which  is 
determined  and  limited  by  the  acknowledgment  of 
obligation,  liberty ;  freedom  of  action  without  limita- 
tion by  obligation,  licentiousness.  The  greater  the 
liberty  the  more  the  duty." 

Unrestrained  natural  liberty  is  the  enemy  of  civil 
liberty.  Let  me  illustrate :  It  was  personal  liberty 
that  enabled  Guiteau  to  send  the  bullet  through  the 
back  of  President  Garfield.  It  is  civil  liberty  which 
will  hang  him  on  the  30th  of  June.  Do  you  see  the 
difference?  It  is  personal  liberty  that  would  let  me 
meet  you  on  the  street  and  knock  your  brains  out 
with  a  club ;  it  is  civil  liberty  that  would  punish  me 
for  the  crime. 

It  is  personal  or  natural  liberty  which  would  let  a 
tramp  outrage  your  wife  or  daughter.  It  is  organ- 
ized or  civil  liberty  which  would  hang  him  if  he  did. 
Civil  liberty  is  developed  by  the  restrictions  of  nat- 
ural liberty  and  development  of  higher  intellectual 
liberty  among  intellectual  men.  Go  among  the  bar- 
barian tribes  on  the  frontier.  One  of  the  tribes 
which  I  visited  a  few  years  ago  has  very  limited 
civil  government.  Their  chief  is  elected  on  account 
of  his  brute  strength.  He  has  the  force  and  he  is 


164      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

elected.  Property  is  only  held  by  the  physical  force 
of  the  man  holding  it.  They  have  a  marriage  rela- 
tion, after  a  fashion.  An  Indian  marries  a  squaw 
and  she  becomes  his  absolute  property.  He  may 
whip  her,  knock  her  down  or  kill  her.  There  is 
no  punishment.  I  asked  one  of  their  chiefs,  Run- 
ning Elk,  if  there  was  no  punishment  for  wife  mur- 
der, and  he  answered,  "No,  unless  her  father  or 
brother  should  take  it  upon  themselves  to  avenge  her 
death."  "  Do  they  ever  do  that?"  I  asked.  He  an- 
swered: "No;  they  might  want  to  kill  their  wives, 
and  their  killing  him  would  set  a  bad  precedent." 

Come  farther  east,  to  some  of  the  tribes  on  the 
Missouri  river,  and  you  will  find  that  civilization 
and  civil,  liberty  have  advanced  by  the  restraint  of 
personal  liberty.  These  tribes  have  property.  The 
marriage  relation  has  taken  more  stability.  The 
Indian  may  whip  his  wife,  but  to  put  her  off  must  go 
through  regular  forms.  If  he  kill  her  he  is  pun- 
ished by  death  or  banishment  from  the  tribe.  Go 
south  where  the  Cherokees  control  the  territory. 
You  will  find  a  class  of  people  nearly  as  intelligent 
as  the  people  before  me.  Their  property  is  perma- 
nent. Civilization  has  taken  the  brute  Indian — very 
nearly  a  brute — restrained  his  personal  liberty  and 
compelled  him  to  be  a  man.  Civil  liberty  is  devel- 
oped by  the  restraint  of  personal  liberty.  The  vul- 
ture that  flies  across  our  western  plains  is  personally 
free  to  steal  chickens.  The  cayote  wolf  is  a  high 
type  of  personal  liberty.  The  buccaneer  on  the 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.          165 

ocean  is  a  representative  of  personal  liberty.  Jesse 
James  was  the  best  type  of  personal  liberty  in  this 
country.  For  twenty  years  he  was  personally  free 
to  rob  trains.  Finally  he  went  down  to  death  under 
the  hand  of  civil  government.  It  might  have  been 
a  bad  way,  but  out  west  the  people  are  glad  his  per- 
sonal liberty  was  destroyed.  Personal  liberty  means 
individual  or  brute  liberty.  Civil  liberty  means  the 
restraint  of  personal  liberty.  I  have  a  legal  right 
to  fill  my  mouth  with  tobacco,  and  chew,  and  chew 
and  spit.  I  do  not  believe  I  have  the  physical  and 
moral  right.  I  have  a  right  to  chew  and  spit  that 
way,  or  chew  and  spit  the  other  way — it  is  none  of 
your  business.  You  grant  that  right  if  I  am  alone 
on  the  prairie.  I  go  into  a  crowd  of  men  and  exer- 
cise the  right.  I  chew  and  spit  in  one  man's  face, 
and  chew  and  spit  in  another  man's  ear.  I  would 
be  knocked  down  in  a  minute.  As  a  man  hits  me 
on  the  ear,  I  exclaim,  "  Is  not  this  a  free  country?'* 
"  Yes."  "  Have  not  I  a  right  to  spit  ?"  You  would 
teach  me  that  my  right  to  spit  ceased  where  your 
right  not  to  be  spit  upon  began.  This  arm  is  my 
arm  and  my  wife's;  it  is  not  yours.  Up  here  I  have 
a  right  to  strike  out  with  it  as  I  please.  I  go  over 
there  with  these  gentlemen  and  swing  my  arm  and 
exercise  the  natural  right  which  you  have  granted; 
I  hit  one  man  on  the  nose,  another  under  the  ear, 
and  as  I  go  down  the  stairs  on  my  head,  I  cry  out: 

"  Is  not  this  a  free  country?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

*'  Have  not  I  a  right  to  swing  my  arm?" 


166      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

"  Yes,  but  your  right  to  swing  your  arm  leaves 
off  where  my  right  not  to  have  my  nose  struck 
begins." 

Here  civil  government  comes  in  to  prevent  blood- 
shed, adjust  rights  and  settle  disputes. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  idea  that  any  man  in 
this  community  has  a  right  to  do  wrong,  is  nonsense. 
When  Alexander  Selkirk  was  on  the  Island  of  Juan 
Fernandez,  the  poet  made  him  sing: 

"  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 
My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute; 
From  the  center  all  round  to  the  sea, 
I  am  lord  of  the  fowl  and  the  brute." 

He  could  stand  on  his  head,  go  without  clothes — 
do  as  he  pleased.  If  he  had  tried  to  do  the  same 
after  he  returned  to  London  he  would  have  been  in 
the  police-station  in  ten  minutes. 

Liquor-men  say:  "Government  has  no  right  to 
say  what  I  shall  eat,  drink  or  wear.  Get  up  and 
forget  to  dress  yourself  some  morning.  How  far 
would  you  get  in  this  city  before  the  government 
would  tell  you  to  put  on  clothes  ?  One  of  you  ladies 
dress  yourself  in  men's  clothes.  How  long  before 
the  government  will  tell  you  to  wear  right  apparel  ? 
It  is  the  duty  of  government  to  restrain  animal  pas- 
sions, and  the  cry  of  liquor-men  for  personal  lib- 
erty, is  simply  a  cry  for  barbarism.  Let  me  show 
you  the  outcome  of  their  doctrines  as  enunciated  by 
their  great  high-priest,  the  high-priest  of  personal 
liberty — John  Stuart  Mill.  I  read  from  his  works, 
and  you  get  them  and  read  for  yourself,  and  see 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.  167 

what  this  damnable  doctrine  of  the  liquor  interest 
of  this  country  means.  I  read  from  page  58,  of  the 
English  edition,  published  in  London,  by  Long- 
mans, Green,  Reader  &  Dyer: 

"Fornication,  for  example,  must  be  tolerated;  and  so  must 
gambling ;  but  should  a  person  be  free  to  be  a  pimp  or  to  keep  a 
gambling  house  ?  The  case  is  one  of  those  which  lie  on  the  exact 
boundary  line  between  two  principles,  and  it  is  not  at  once  appar- 
ent to  which  of  the  two  it  properly  belongs.  There  are  argu- 
ments on  both  sides." 

Then  for  a  whole  page  he  discusses  whether  the 
government  has  a  right  to  deal  with  these  vices,  and 
says:  "There  is  considerable  force  in  these  argu- 
ments; I  will  not  venture  to  decide."  Think  of  a 
man  whose  system  of  morals  does  not  enable  him  to 
determine  .whether  government  has  the  right  to  stop 
such  things  as  those  mentioned!  Such  is  the  doc-*' 
trine  of  the  liquor  traffic.  They  would  have  the 
state  become  the  procurer  or  agent  to  gratify  the 
lusts  and  passions  of  its  citizens,  even  though  such 
gratification,  by  ruining  them,  would  destroy  its  own 
life.  Despots  and  davils  would  laugh  at  such  a 
theory  of  governmental  functions.  If  such  a  theory 
is  adopted  in  this  country,  on  the  chaos  of  Ameri- 
can institutions  will  arise  the  worst  despotism  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  The  doctrine  of  personal,  sen- 
sual liberty,  is  the  doctrine  of  f  ree-lovism,  and  means 
the  reinstatement  of  lust,  passion  and  brute  force  as 
the  governing  force  of  the  world. 

The  remainder  of  their  defense  is  best  answered 
by  its  absurdity.     From  their  declaration  I  read: 


168   THE  PEOPLE  VEESUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

1.  These  laws  have  been  tried  and  abandoned  as  failures  in 
many  of  the  states,  and  to-day,  out  of  thirty-eight  states  they  are 
in  force  in  but  six,  and  are  actually  enforced  in  none. 

2.  Adopt  this  amendment  and  immigration  will  shun  our  state, 
as  it  is  already  shunning  the  state  of  Kansas.     The  rapid  develop- 
ment of  Iowa  will  receive  a  sudden  check,  as  no  immigrants  will 
wish  to  live  under  such  a  tyranny  as  this  amendment  imposes. 

It  is  a  failure!     It  will  stop  immigration  and  set 
up  an  awful  tyranny! 
Again  I  read: 

1.  We  believe  it  is  an  established  fact  that  the  attempt  of  gov- 
ernment to  prohibit  the  sale  or  purchase  of  intoxicating  drinks 
sharpens  and  excites  the  disposition  of  men  to  obtain  them. 

2.  The  facts  that  the  adoption  of  this  prohibitory  amendment 
is  an  act  of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  the  brewing  interests — that 
it  practically  confiscates  our  property,  and  makes  us  bankrupts, 
seems  to  have  the  least  weight  with  the  leaders  in  this  fanatical 
and  reckless  crusade. 

It  is  going  to  bankrupt  them  because  it  sharpens 
men's  appetites  and  excites  the  desire  to  obtain 
liquors ! 

Again  I  read: 

1.  That  experience  in  Maine  and  Kansas  under  the  prohibitory 
laws  shows  that  it  does  not  decrease  drunkenness  nor  drinking. 

2.  If  passed  it  will  confiscate   a  large  amount  of  property 
which  has  been  built  up  in  the  pursuit  of  a  legitimate  business, 
and  provides  for  no  compensation  to  the  owners  for  the  loss. 

Prohibition  is  a  complete  and  entire  failure;  yet, 
it  destroys  the  brewery  and  distilleries! 
Again  I  read: 

1.  Wherever  tried,  prohibition  has  failed  to  prohibit. 

2.  If  the   amendment  shall  be  voted  into  the  constitution,  a 
subsequent  law,  bristling   all  over  with  pains   and  penalties,  will 
inevitably  be  passed  to  carry  into  full  effect  the  intent   of  the 
amendment. 

It  will  not  prohibit !     It  will  prohibit ! 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.  169 

These  statements  are  taken  from  different  parts 
of  their  platform,  and  grouped.  If  I  had  a  boy  of 
ten  years  who  would  maks  such  contradictory  state- 
ments I  would  send  him  to  the  asylum  for  weak- 
minded  children. 

Their  last  defense  is  bulldozing — rebellion.  Citi- 
zens, I  would  not  overdraw  the  picture.  I  read 
from  the  Des  Moines  declaration  of  the  liquor  men: 

Resolved,  That  we  will  use  all  honorable  means  to  defeat  said 
proposed  amendment  at  the  polls,  and  if  we  are  unsuccessful  will 
resist  its  unjust  and  oppressive  provisions  by  every  method  known 
to  law. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  never  knowingly  support  for  any 
office  or  place  of  trust  any  one  who  shall  vote  for  this  proposed 
outrage  upon  our  property  and  rights. 

Resolved,  That  the  recent  election  in  Ohio,  which  followed  the 
passage  of  the  Pond  bill,  is  only  a  forerunner  of  what  will  occur 
in  this  state,  if  the  Republican  party  adheres  to  its  policy  of 
fanaticism  as  against  the  liberal  element. 

This  declaration  is  fully  explained  by  one  of  their 
ablest  defenders  among  the  press  of  this  state,  who 
says: 

Prohibition  is  the  first  step  in  the  direction  of  despotism. 

If  you  want  to  check  immigration,  vote  for  the  amendment. 

If  you  want  to  increase  your  taxes,  vote  for  the  amendment. 

Personal  liberty  must  and  shall  be  maintained  in  impartial 
Iowa. 

Imperial  Iowa  will  kick  this  temperance  tomfoolery  into  a 
cocked  hat. 

If  you  want  to  be  ruled  and  ruined  by  fools  and  fanatics,  vote 
for  the  amendment. 

The  prohibition  party  is  made  up  of  grannies  and  gossips  who 
have  never  learned  to  mind  their  own  business. 

The  defeat  of  the  amendment  is  demanded  by  common  sense. 
— Sioux  City  Tribune. 

Yes; 

12 


170      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

And  its  defeat  is  demanded  by  common  honesty. 

IF  THE 
DOLTS  AND 
DEMAGOGUES 
SUCCEED  IN  SECUBING  THE  PASSAGE  OF  THAT  SUM  OF  ABOMINATIONS 

KNOWN  AS  THE  PBOHIBITOBY  AMENDMENT,  THE  FBIENDS  AND  DEFEND- 
EBS  OF  PEBSONAL  LIBEBTY  WILL  DEFY  THE  ENFOBCEMENT  OF  THE 
ENOBMITY. 

MAKK  THAT! 

I  have  not  thought  that  such  threats,  intimidation 
and  bulldozing  could  influence  you  voters,  and  only 
mention  the  statements  to  show  you  the  utter 
depravity  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  its  defenders.  The 
threat  of  political  ostracism  and  assassination  is  the 
emptiest  kind  of  buncomb.  The  dramshop  has  no 
political  power,  other  than  as  agent  to  bribe  its 
debauched  victims.  It  is  a  political  pimp  and  go- 
between  of  the  vilest  sort — ever  ready  to  sell  itself 
to  the  highest  bidder. 

The  threat  of  rebellion  is  the  only  one  of  any 
moment,  and  it  simply  raises  the  issue  whether  less 
than  five  thousand  bloated  liquor-dealers  govern  this 
state,  or  whether  the  people  govern  it.  This  issue 
you  must  meet  and  settle.  The  man  is  a  coward 
who  does  not  meet  the  defiance  of  the  liquor  men 
and  demonstrate  the  fact  that  the  people  govern 
Iowa. 

Who  governs  Iowa?  is  the  issue  raised  by  the 
opposition ;  and  in  making  up  your  verdict  you  are 
told,  if  you  fail  to  place  Iowa  in  the*  hands  of  grog- 
shops, you  shall  politically  die.  "Are  you  men  and 
suffer  such  dishonor?"  No,  these  men  who  live  in 


THE  DEFENSE  REVIEWED.  171 

the  sores  of  the  body  politic,  as  maggots  live  in  the 
neglected  sores  of  the  beggar,  will  be  washed  out  by 
your  votes  on  the  27th  of  June,  and  then,  and  not 
until  then,  can  we  hope  for  a  healing  of  these  loath- 
some social  and  political  sores,  and  for  sound  political 
health  and  strength  in  the  country. 


VI. 

THE    QUESTIONS    ASKED    BY    THE    JTJKY 
ANSWEKED. 


DELIVEBED  IN  THE  OPERA  HOUSE  AT  MARSHALLTOWN, 
IOWA,  JUNE  18,  1882. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — To-night  as  I  close  the 
case  of  the  people,  I  want  to  thank  you  for  your 
earnest  attention  and  evident  desire  to  do  justice. 

It  is  no  small  matter  to  change  the  organic  law  of 
a  state.  The  verbal  change  may  be  small,  but  the 
results  will  affect  its  whole  social  and  business  life. 
"Weigh  the  matter  calmly,  dispassionately.  The 
people  have  the  right  to  amend  their  organic  law. 
The  founders  of  the  government  provided  for  such 
governmental  charges.  I  use  the  word  people  be- 
cause it  is  the  common  term,  not  because  it  is  the 
correct  one.  This  is  not  a  government  of  the  people. 
It  is  a  government  of  male  voters;  but,  as  the  word 
people  is  commonly  used,  I  shall  continue  to  use  it 
and  you  will  understand  what  I  mean  by  it. 

Around  the  proposition  to  amend  your  organic 
lawy  the  opposition  have  conjured  a  host  of  imagin- 
ary dangers  to  intimidate  voters.  They  have  told 
you  that  this  amendment  is  a  blow  at  the  liberties  of 

172 


QUESTIONS    ASKED    BY    JURY    ANSWERED.        173 

the  people :  that  it  will  take  rights  from  the  people. 
The  exact  reverse  is  the  truth.  It  takes  rights  from 
the  legislature,  or  rather,  returns  to  the  people  rights 
which  years  ago  they  delegated  to  the  government. 
The  people  have  the  right  to  recover  any  powers 
they  have  delegated. 

A  great  writer  has  said:  "Constitutions  are  the 
assemblage  of  those  principles  which  are  deemed 
fundamental  to  the  government  of  a  people.  They 
refer  either  to  the  relation  in  which  the  citizen  stands 
to  the  state  at  large, — and  consequently,  to  the  gov- 
ernment,— or  to  the  proper  delineation  of  the  various 
spheres  of  authority."  This  amendment  is  a  change 
in  the  delineation  of  the  spheres  of  authority.  It 
proposes  to  take  the  authority  and  power  to  deal 
with  a  certain  trade,  from  a  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment and  return  it  to  the  people. 

The  rule  of  construction  of  the  powers  of  govern- 
ment in  the  United  States  courts  is  this  :  Congress 
may  pass  any  law  for  which  an  express  or  implied 
warrant  can  be  found  in  the  written  constitution  of 
the  United  States.  If  an  act  is  passed  by  Congress 
and  you  wish  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  constitutional 
or  not,  you  must  take  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  and  find  in  that  instrument  an  express  war- 
rant or  an  implied  warrant  for  its  enactment.  If 
you  do  not  find  it  there,  the  law  is  unconstitutional. 
The  constitution  of  the  United  States  is  a  restriction 
on  the  powers  of  the  general  government. 

The  rule  of  construction  in  state  courts  is  exactly 


174   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  reverse.  If  you  wish  to  ascertain  whether  a  law 
passed  by  the  legislature  of  a  state  is  constitutional, 
you  must  examine  the  constitution  of  that  state  and 
find  if  the  legislature  is  prohibited  from  passing  it. 
The  constitution  of  the  state  simply  guarantees  to 
the  people  certain  rights,  and  all  rights  that  are  not 
expressly  reserved  to  the  people,  in  the  constitution, 
are  vested  in  the  legislature  and  other  branches  of 
government  of  the  several  states. 

In  past  years  the  people  of  the  state  of  Iowa  and 
most  of  the  other  states  of  this  Union,  have  been 
willing  to  trust  in  the  hands  of  the  legislature  the 
right  to  control  the  question  of  the  alcoholic  liquor 
trade.  The  people  delegated  their  right  to  the 
legislative  and  executive  departments  of  the  state. 
The  right  to  deal  with  the  traffic  in  your  state 
is  vested  in  the  legislature  composed  of  represen- 
tatives elected  by  the  people.  Tears  have  passed 
since  this  grant  was  made.  The  people  have  tested 
the  system  of  legislative  control,  and  have  become 
thoroughly  satisfied  that  the  legislature  of  the  state 
is  not  the  place  where  this  power  should  be  vested ; 
and  now  the  proposition  in  this  state  is  simply  to 
revoke  the  power  granted  to  the  legislature,  and 
re-invest  it  in  the  people.  It  is  the  people  step- 
ping out  and  saying  to  the  legislature  of  the  state, 
"  Gentlemen,  you  have  not  dealt  with  this  ques- 
tion as  your  constituents  desired,  and  consequently 
we  propose  to  take  the  power  to  deal  with  it  out 
of  your  hands,  and  hold  it  in  our  own."  The 


QUESTIONS   ASKED    BY    JUEY    ANSWERED.         175 

constitutional  amendment,  instead  of  taking  a  right 
from  the  people,  takes  a  right  from  the  legislature 
and  vests  it  in  the  people.  The  people  can  at  any 
time  amend  the  constitution ;  a  legislature  can  never 
amend  a  constitution.  That  is  the  difference. 

You  ask  why  the  people  .of  this  state  are  not  will- 
ing to  leave  this  power  in  the  hands  of  the  legisla- 
ture of  the  state ;  why  they  demand  that  it  shall  be 
returned  to  them,  that  they  alone  may  decide  the 
question.  In  1855,  the  legislature  of  your  state — 
a  Democratic  legislature,  by  the  way — thought  it 
wise  to  submit  to  the  voters  of  Iowa,  the  question 
whether  a  statutory  enactment  prohibiting  the  man- 
ufacture and  sale  of  alcoholic  beverages  should 
become  a  law.  The  vote  of  the  people  was  to  decide 
the  question  whether  the  statute  should  exist.  Of 
course  the  vote  of  the  people  had  no  effect,  and  the 
legislature  knew  it  could  not  have  when  they  passed 
the  law.  It  was  simply  asking  a  popular  opinion 
whether  it  was  best  to  enact  this  law.  After  a  bit- 
terly contested  campaign,  the  people,  by  an  emphatic 
majority,  said  that  the  statutory  enactment  should 
be  a  law.  In  obedience  to  the  decision  of  the  people, 
the  legislature  passed  a  law,  and  it  became  a  law 
throughout  Iowa.  Hardly  had  this  been  done  when 
the  liquor  men  of  this  state  went  to  the  legislative 
Solons  of  Iowa  and  said : 

"  We  want  to  come  back  into  this  state  and  sell 
wine  and  beer  and  lighter  drinks." 

"  But,"  said  the  men  in  the  legislature,   "  gentle- 


176   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

men,  the  people  have  said  you  shall  not  come  back." 
The  liquor  men  used  arguments  which  were  unfair 
and  dishonest;  they  were  not  willing  to  allow  the 
question  to  be  resubmitted  to  the  people  for  a 
new  trial;  they  induced  the  legislature  to  swindle 
the  people  out  of  it  after  they  had  rendered  their 
verdict.  In  accordance  with  a  political  coalition, 
unholy  as  any  ever  made  in  the  depths  of  the 
bottomless  pit,  the  traffic  was  re-admitted  to  this 
state  by  legislative  enactment,  in  defiance  of  the 
people's  verdict  and  vote. 

Therefore  the  people  of  this  state  say  to  the  legis- 
lature: "  Gentlemen,  we  propose  to  take  from  you 
the  power  to  unsettle  the  question  at  every  session 
of  your  body.  We  will  take  the  question  wholly 
into  our  own  hands.  We  will  give  prohibition  a 
full,  fair,  and  an  honest  trial;  and  then,  if  we,  the 
voters  of  this  state,  believe  it  to  be  a  failure,  we  will 
repeal  the  constitutional  enactment.  But  it  shall 
remain  until  the  voters  see  fit  to  repeal  it." 

That  is  the  whole  question.  It  is  simply  the 
people  demanding  their  right  to  determine  this 
question,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  be  determined  by 
a  few  men  in  legislative  halls. 

The  question  of  the  guilt  of  the  liquor  traffic  is 
now  admitted.  The  liquor  men  do  not  attempt  to 
justify  or  defend  the  drinking-places  of  the  state. 
They  admit  its  guilt.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  pam- 
phlet on  personal  liberty,  which  is  now  being  circu- 
lated by  the  anti-prohibitionists,  and  I  read: 


QUESTIONS    ASKED    BY    JURY    ANSWERED.         177 

Herein,  the  opponents  and  advocates  of  the  prohibitory  amend- 
ment and  prohibitory  laws  agree: 

1.  They  agree  that  drunkenness  is   an  old  and  great  crime, 
which  brings  with  it  other  crimes — that  it  is  the  fruitful  source  of 
pain,  misery,  pauperism  and  disease. 

2.  They  agree  that  drunkenness,  when  it  produces  disorder,  is 
neither  an  excuse  or  apology  for  crime,  and  should  be  promptly 
punished  by  law.    They  agree  that  the  adulterators  of  all*  liquors 
should  be  severely  punished  by  law. 

3.  They  agree  that  the  law  should  punish  all  persons  who  keep 
drunken  and  disorderly  resorts  for  drunkards,  idlers  and  criminals. 

Remember,  this  is  written  by  a  liquor  man.  For 
fear  you  should  doubt,  I  will  show  you  what  a 
villainous  liar  he  is,  by  reading  from  the  last  page 
of  his  book.  He  says: 

The  sincerity  of  the  whole  prohibitory  movement  may  be  read- 
ily measured  by  the  honest  comparison  of  the  professions  with 
the  practices  of  its  leaders  and  its  champions.  Only  one  instance 
will  illustrate  the  hypocrisy  of  the  prohibitory  movement.  Dur- 
ing the  last  summer,  when  the  late  president  had  fallen  by  assassi- 
nation, the  whole  land  was  filled  with  grief  and  stricken  with 
sorrow.  The  president  had  been  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and 
the  stroke  which  had  fallen  with  its  deadly  power  upon  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  dead  man's  family,  was  even  more  keenly  felt  by 
the  Christian  church.  Every  church  in  the  land  was  draped  in 
mourning  ;  courts  and  schools  were  closed  during  the  days  of  sor- 
row; whilst  the  benevolent  societies  and  political  parties  of  the 
country  vied  with  each  other  in  their  expression  of  horror  at  the 
crime,  and  lamentation  for  the  dead  chief  of  a  free  people.  When 
the  funeral  cortege  passed  from  the  East  to  the  West,  thousands 
of  broken-hearted  mourners  stood  with  uncovered  heads  to  meet 
the  funeral  car  at  its  passage,  and  reverently  bow  in  submission 
to  the  cruel  fate  of  the  nation.  Inside  of  the  funeral  train  fol- 
lowing the  illustrious  dead  to  his  final  resting-place,  were  the  chief 
mourners.  In  the  brief  period  employed  in  the  passage  from  the 
East  to  the  West  (it  must  have  been  in  bacchanalian  revelry)  the 
intoxicating  drinks  consumed  by  the  government  mourners,  in  a 
carefully  itemized  account,  footed  up  $1,700,  which  has  been  pre- 


178       THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

sented  to  Congress  for  allowance,  about  $300  of  which  was  for 
cocktails.  These  mourners  were  the  chief  leaders  of  the  great 
National  prohibition  party. 

The  first  tliree  confessions  of  the  gentleman  is 
the  whole  basis  of  the  people's  case.  The  people 
say  that  drunkenness  in  this  country  is  a  curse,  and 
that  drunkenness  is  generated  by  the  a-b-c  school 
of  drunkenness  —  the  licensed  dramshop.  The 
liquor  men  do  not  deny  it.  So,  after  two  months  of 
trial  in  your  state,  and  when  in  about  ten  days  the 
question  is  to  be  determined  by  the  votejrs,  the 
liquor  men  come  into  court  and  enter  a  pica  of 
guilty,  and  only  ask  that,  because  of  mitigating  cir- 
cumstances, the  punishment  imposed  may  be  high 
license.  The  issue  we  are  to  discuss  is  not  the 
question  of  their  guilt*  or  innocence,  because  they 
have  plead  guilty. 

These  objections  of  the  liquor  men  have  been 
listened  .to  by  the  jury,  and  I  am  asked  to  mention 
them.  The  questions  have  been  written  and  passed 
to  me;  I  shall  read  by  number  and  answer.  They 
are  as  follows: 

1st  Question  :  "  If  the  amendment  is  adopted  it  will  be  two 
years  before  the  legislature  will  meet,  and  during  that  time  (the 
present  law  having  been  made  unconstitutional)  there  will  be  free 
whisky  throughout  the  state,  as  there  will  be  no  penalties  to  secure 
an  enforcement  of  the  amendment." 

This  is  urged  by  the  liquor  men;  and  one  would 
think,  in  listening  to  their  talk,  that  these  men  are 
terribly  alarmed  for  fear  that  during  a  period  of  two 
years  they  will  have  a  right  to  sell  whisky  without 
any  law  restraining  them. 

To  console  them,  and  that  they  may  not  be  mis- 


QUESTIONS  ASKED  BY  JURY  ANSWERED...   179 

taken,  I  assure  them  that  this  will  be  the  ruling  of 
your  courts,  as  it  has  been  the  ruling  of  all  the 
higher  courts  in  this  country;  viz.,  that  the  adoption 
of  the  constitutional  amendment  will  simply  make 
the  license  clauses  of  your  present  act  unconstitu- 
tional. Your  law  is  a  prohibitory  law.  It  was 
passed  as  a  prohibitory  law.  The  amendment  will 
affect  only  the  explanatory  clauses  which  allow  the 
sale  of  wine  and  beer. 

"  What  will  bo  tho  result?"  Just  as  soon  as  it  is 
officially  declared  that  tho  amendment  is  carried, 
you  will  have  a  prohibitory  law  in  existence  in  this 
state  that  is  better  than  the  Kansas  law,  for  that  is 
a  fearfully  weak  one.  Your  old  law  will  be  in  force. 
Your  future  legislators  may  amend  the  present  pro  - 
hibitory  law,  but  it  will  stand  as  a  law  except  its 
license  features,  until  your  legislators  change  it. 

The  effect  of  the  amendment  on  tho  law  will  be 
the  same  as  though  it  had  been  a  part  of  the  consti- 
tution when  the  law  was  passed.  The  license  fea- 
tures of  your  present  law  will  be  unconstitutional. 
The  only  question  will  be  over  penalties  for  wine 
and  beer. 

2d  Question:     "Will    the    amendment     be    effective    without 
penalties?" 

I  say,  No.  There  is  not  a  single  provision  of  the 
constitution  that  is  effective  without  penalties. 

3d  Question  :    "Will  not  the  life  of  the  amendment  exist  only 
in  the  penalties  ?  " 

I  answer  to  that,  No ;  and  I  will  show  why,  when 
J  have  read  the  fourth  question,  which  is: 

"Will  not  the  penalties  tend  to  fluctuate  with  each  legislature  f  * 


180      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

"It  is  claimed  that  constitutional  law  carries  more  force  than 
legislative  enactment ;  but  if  the  penalties  depend  upon  legisla- 
tive enactment,  why  the  greater  force?" 

These  are  pertinent  questions.  To  the  third 
question,  "Will  not  the  life  of  the  amendment 
depend  on  its  penalties  ?"  I  answer,  No ;  because  all 
law  depends  upon  public  sentiment  for  its  enforce- 
ment The  gentleman  who  asks  the  question,  asks 
whether  the  constitutional  amendment  will  have 
greater  force  than  statutory  enactment.  I  answer 
Yes,  for  this  reason :  If  the  legislature  should  pass 
a  statute,  it  might  be  the  opinion  simply  of  the 
members  of  the  legislature,  instead  of  being  the 
opinion  of  the  people.  It  might  be  the  opinion 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  or  one  hundred  and 
forty  men  constituting  the  law-making  body  of 
your  state.  An  amendment  to  the  constitution, 
on  the  contrary,  can  only  be  placed  there  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  people,  representing  a  majority  of  the 
sentiment  of  this  state ;  and  when  law-breakers  know 
that  prohibition  is  not  a  mere  statutory  enactment, 
but  that  a  majority  of  the  people  of  this  state  are 
opposed  to  them,  they  will  yield ;  because  no  man 
likes  to  fight  majorities.  A  statutory  enactment 
seems  to  have  nobody  behind  it,  except  the  courts. 
A  constitutional  enactment  has  the  people  of  the 
whole  state  behind  it  Hence,  I  answer,  the  life  of 
the  constitutional  amendment  is  the  people,  not  the 
penalties.  The  life  of  the  amendment  is  the  senti- 
ment shown  by  the  vote  that  adopts  it.  Conse- 


QUESTIONS:  ASKED    BY    JURY    ANSWERED.         181 

quently,  the  constitutional  amendment  must  be  of 
greater  force  than  a  statutory  enactment. 

The  people  having  adopted  a  constitutional 
amendment  by  majority  vote,  politicians  will  be  ex- 
ceedingly slow  to  pass  any  law  with  penalties  which 
will  not  carry  out  the  expressed  will  of  the  people. 
In  Kansas,  where  the  amendment  was  adopted  by 
the  people's  vote,  the  legislature  passed  a  law  to 
carry  out  the  will  of  the  people,  not  daring  to  defy 
that  will.  The  tendency  of  all  law  carrying  out 
constitutional  provisions  is  to  permanency,  because 
politicians  do  not  like  to  antagonize  the  people. 

5th  Question:  "  If  there  is  greater  force  in  constitutional  pro- 
vision to  combat  evils  or  crimes,  why  is  not  mnrder  or  other  high 
crimes  prohibited  by  constitutional  amendment  instead  of  legis- 
lative enactment?" 

I  say  to  the  friend  who  wrote  this  question  that 
they  are.  The  constitution  of  your  state  guarantees 
the  life  and  liberty  of  the  citizen,  and  if  the  legis- 
lature of  your  state  should  pass  a  law  licensing 
murder,  it  would  be  unconstitutional.  Murder,  arson 
and  theft  are  prohibited  by  constitutional  provision, 
and  an  enactment  made  to  license  these  things  would 
be  a  direct  violation  of  the  property  and  life  guar- 
antees of  the  constitution,  and  would  be  declared 
unconstitutional  in  any  court  of  the  United  States. 
The  crimes  named  are  prohibited  by  the  constitu- 
tional guarantee  of  life  and  property. 

6th  Question:  "The  text  of  the  amendment  makes  it  a  crime 
to  sell  within  the  state,  but  cannot  prohibit  the  sale  outside  the 
state.  In  other  words,  Iowa  men  must  not  poison  their  immediate 


182   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

neighbors  but  can  poison  Kansas  without  penalty.  Would  not 
such  a  law  as  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  government  be 
dishonorable,  inconsistent  and  unchristian  ?  " 

The  questioner  makes  an  incorrect  statetment  and 
on  the  incorrect  statement  bases  his  question.  The 
amendment  prohibits  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
liquors.  The  statement  is  one  being  urged  by 
liquor  men  in  all  parts  of  the  state.  One  is  remind- 
ed that 

"When  the  Devil  was  sick 
The  Devil  a  monk  would  be; 
When  the  Devil  was  well, 
The  Devil  a  monk  was  he!" 

The  statement,  as  I  said,  is  false,  but  if  it  were  true 
I  would  vote  for  the  amendment.  If  a  rattlesnake 
were  to  crawl  into  my  house  and  my  boy  was  play- 
ing near  it-,  if  I  could  not  kill  it,  but  could  drive  it 
out  of  doors,  I  would  drive  it  out.  If  he  bit  my 
neighbor's  boy  I  should  regret  that  he  did  so,  but 
charity  begins  at  home.  I  should  protect  my  own 
home  first;  and  when  Iowa  has  protected  her  own 
homes,  let  the  gigantic  temperance  sentiment  of  this 
state  carry  the  reform  to  every  state  of  this  nation 
until  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  prohibits 
the  traffic  in  the  nation. 

7th  Question:    "  Could  our  government  exceed  its  authority  by 
any  act  of  the  majority  of  its  voters?" 

I  answer:  The  government  is  the. people,  or  the 
voters.  All  political  power  is  inherent  in  the  people. 
The  constitution  of  the  United  States  reads:  "We, 
the  people."  The  government  has  the  right  to  do 
anything  it  is  not  prohibited  by  the  constitution 


QUESTIONS   ASKED    BY   JURY   ANSWERED.        183 

from  doing.  In  making  the  constitution  a  majority 
of  the  people  is  supreme.  They  can  do  anything 
they  please.  They  may  establish  a  state  church  or 
despotism.  Therefore  the  government  does  not  ex- 
ceed its  authority  in  obeying  any  "act  of  a  majority 
of  voters"  expressed  in  their  constitution.  The  only 
safety  for  our  liberties  is  the  intelligence  and  moral- 
ity of  the  people.  For  this  reason  the  drinking 
place  should  be  destroyed  on  account  of  its  power  to 
corrupt  or  debauch  the  people. 

8th  Question:  "If  our  government  cannot  exceed  its  authority 
as  represented  by  a  majority  of  its  voters,  why  may  not  the  gov- 
ernment prescribe  the  form  of  religious  worship  as  well  as  to  say 
what  a  man  shall  eat  or  drink?  " 

If  the  people  are  ever  foolish  enough  to  do  this, 
they  can  do  it,  and  you  cannot  hinder  them,  because 
in  this  country  the  people  are  the  government.  If 
this  people  shall  determine  that  a  certain  kind  of 
religion  shall  be  the  religion  of  the  state,  then  that 
religion  will  be  the  state  religion;  and  the  only 
guarantee  against  such  a  policy  is  to  educate  the 
people  so  that  they  will  not  be  foolish  enough  to 
adopt  it.  The  only  safety  for  the  government  is  the 
intelligence  and  morality  of  the  individual  citizen. 
The  safety  for  the  principles  of  liberty  is  to  educate 
the  people  to  do  right  and  destroy  every  institution 
that  educates  to  do  wrong. 

But  this  question  is  unfair,  inasmuch  as  it  sup- 
poses a  falsehood  as  a  premise.  Prohibitory  liquor 
laws  in  nowise  say  what  a  man  shall  eat  or  what  he 
shall  drink.  They  simply  aim  to  protect  society 


184       THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

from  the  pernicious  influence  of  trade,  which*  is  a 
social  institution.  In  no  respect  do  they  aim  to  in- 
terfere with  the  private  liberties  of  the  individual 
until  those  private  liberties  create  public  nuisances. 
The  rights  inherent  in  the  people  to  say  what  is,  and 
what  shall  be  the  form  of  government  in  this  country 
exist  to-day,  and  will  in  nowise  be  altered  or  changed 
by  the  passage  of  this  amendment.  The  aim  of  the 
prohibitionists  is  simply  to  destroy  in  this  country 
all  institutions  which  have  a  tendency  to  debauch 
the  morality  and  the  intelligence  of  the  people,  and 
thereby  jeopardize  our  liberties  by  corrupting  the 
fountaiiihead  of  our  liberties — the  people. 

9th  Question  :  "  The  educational  methods  and  restrictive  meas- 
ures in  promoting  temperance  should  go  hand  in  hand.  The  re- 
strictive should  not  be  at  the  expense  of  the  educational,  from 
\?hich  all  true  reforms  must  come." 

The  question  states  the  theory  of  every  prohi- 
bitionist. The  only  error  being  in  leaving  the  infer- 
ence that  restrictive  measures  are  not  educational 
All  laws  educate. 

10th  Question  :  "  Will  not  the  conflict  of  society  produced  by 
efforts  to  enforce  extreme  measures  require  so  much  attention  that 
the  educational  forces  of  temperance,  as  well  as  of  other  social 
evils,  will  be  lost  sight  of?" 

The  temperance  organizations  in  this  country  that 
are  paying  the  most  money  to  push  on  the  educa- 
tional temperance  work,  are  fighting  hardest  for 
prohibition.  The  Good  Templars,  which  I  have  the 
honor  of  representing  in  my  own  state  as  their  chief 
officer  and  in  the  nation  as  chairman  of  their  litera- 
ture committee,  have  always  fought  for  prohibition; 


QUESTIONS  ASKED  BY  JURY  ANSWERED.    185 

and  they  are  paying  many  thousands  of  dollars  to 
circulate  literature  among  the  f  reedmen  of  the  South, 
and  none  of  the  literature  is  prohibition  literature 
per  se.  The  Good  Templars  pay  men  to  go  up  and 
down  among  the  colored  people  and  teach  them  the 
a-b-c  of  temperance. 

In  this  state  to-day,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the 
Good  Templars  are  seeking  to  put  text-books  into 
the  schools  to  teach  the  principles  of  physiology  and 
temperance ;  and  they  are  circulating  documents,  not 
only  upon  the  prohibitory  phase,  but  every  other 
phase  of  the  reform.  The  prohibitionists  of  this 
country  are  the  men  who  are  pressing  the  educa- 
tional work.  The  moral  suasionists  who  are  fighting 
prohibition  do  not  give  a  dollar  for  the  educational 
work.  Show  me  a  moral-suasion,  anti-prohibition 
organization  in  this  state  or  in  America  that  has 
given  a  thousand  dollars  in  the  past  year  to  teach 
temperance  to  the  people,  and  I  will  show  you  a 
white  crow.  The  organizations  that  have  done  most 
to  educate  the  people,  the  most  to  save  our  boys,  the 
most  to  pick  up  the  drunkards,  are  the  organizations 
that  say:  "We  will  step  down  into  the  gutter,  and 
with  one  hand  lift  out  the  drunkard,  while  with  the 
other  we  vote  to  close  the  place  that  made  him  a 
drunkard." 

If  those  who  claim  to  work  most  for  moral 
suasion  ever  did  anything  for  educational  tem- 
perance, then  I  would  see  sense  in  the  question. 
Instead  of  working  for  temperance,  they  remain  idle 


186      THE  PEOPLE  VEBSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

during  the  year,  and  as  soon  as  the  temperance  fight 
begins,  instead  of  fighting  the  liquor  traffic,  they 
are  out  with  clubs  to  fight  temperance  men.  I  have 
learned  to  doubt  the  temperance  principles  of  a  man 
who  never  does  anything  for  temperance,  but  who  is 
continually  attacking  temperance  workers  and  lend- 
ing aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy.  In  the  late  war, 
men  who  gave  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy  were 
called  "  copperheads."  I  don't  know  what  you  would 
Call  these,  for  they  are  of  a  meaner  and  viler  type. 
"By  their  works  ye  shall  know  them." 

Who  are  the  so-called  moral-suasion  temperance 
men  working  for  and  associating  with  to-day  ?  Take 
the  history  of  the  ministerial  apostates  who  are  fight- 
ing prohibition  in  this  state  and  find  what  they  have 
done  for  temperance  within  the  past  year.  How 
many  drinking  men  have  they  picked  up?  How 
many  temperance  meetings  have  they  held"?  How 
many  temperance  text-books  have  they  circulated? 
How  many  temperance  papers  have  they  supported  ? 
"By their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  A  man  who 
receives  pay  from  the  drunkard-makers  for  preach- 
ing a  temperance  doctrine  which  will  make  every 
liquor-seller  and  drunkard-maker  shout  amen,  is  a 
fraud,  and  had  better  own  that  he  gets  pay  from  the 
devil  direct. 

llth  Question.  "  Can  temperance  organizations  hope  to  legis- 
late men  into  habits  of  sobriety  ?  " 

The  only  men  who  ever  said  you  could  are  the 
men  who  advocate  license.  Temperance  men  do  not 
propose  to  legislate  a  man  sober;  they  propose  to 


QUESTIONS   ASKED   BY   JURY   ANSWERED.        187 

legislate  men  out  of  the  business  of  making  men 
drunk.  "License  men  to  make  drunkards,  hire  officers 
to  arrest  them,  build  prisons  in  which  to  instruct  them 
not  to  drink,"  is  the  license  advocate's 'plan. 

A  poor  man  goes  into  a  dram-shop  and  gets  drunk. 
In  the  state  of  Nebraska  I  have  never  known  a  rich 
man  to  get  drunk.  "Why,"  you  say,  "that  is 
strange !"  The  statutes  of  Nebraska  make  drunken- 
ness a  misdemeanor.  I  have  met  men  with  plug 
hats,  carrying  a  cane,  who  could  not  walk  on  the 
sidewalk.  I  thought  they  were  drunk.  I  looked  in 
the  police  court  record  the  next  morning,  and  I  saw 
they  were  not  drunk.  I  have  seen  laboring  men  who 
-could  walk  with  little  difficulty.  I  looked  in  the 
police  court  record  the  next  morning,  and  found 
that  they  were  drunk.  I  do  not  know  how  it  works 
in  Iowa,  but  in  the  state  where  I  live  the  young 
snobs,  who  never  do  an  honest  day's  work,  who  live 
on  their  papas  until  they  find  a  girl  who  is  fool 
enough  to  marry  them,  and  then  live  on  her  papa, 
never  get  drunk.  If  they  are  found  in  a  condition 
resembling  drunkenness,  by  the  police,  they  are  helped 
Jiome.  If  they  cannot  be  taken  home,  they  will  be 
taken  to  a  hotel,  and  their  head  sponged.  If  the 
man  who  works,  gets  drunk,  he  is  always  punished. 
Do  you  suppose,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  the  police 
would  arrest  a  man  who  has  money?  The  workmen 
of  this  country  have  long  enough  stood  by  this  sys- 
tem which  makes  it  a  crime  for  a  poor  man  to  do 
what  a  rich  man  may  do  with  impunity.  The  poor 


188   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

man  is  arrested  by  the  police  officer,  and  put  into  tha 
"cooler.".  The  next  morning  he  is  brought  before 
the  police  court,  and  what  is  the  result?  The  sa- 
loon-keeper got  half  of  his  money,  the  police  officer, 
through  the  police  magistrate,  gets  the  other  half, 
and  the  poor  devil  has  not  a  cent  left,  and  the  license 
people  cry:  "Served  him  right;  he  ought  to  have 
been  punished." 

Come  with  me  to  some  wretched  part  of  your 
cities,  and  I  will  show  you  the  ragged  form  of  that 
man's  wife,  show  you  his  boy  and  girl  with  naked 
feet,  and  after  you  have  seen  them  in  their  wretched- 
ness and  poverty,  tell  me  who  is  being  punished. 

One  night  I  sat  in  my  office,  preparing  a  brief — 
it  was  very  late,  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
— and  there  came  a  knock.  I  went  to  the  door,  and 
there  stood  one  of  our  city  policemen.  I  asked: 

"What do  you  want?" 

He  said:  "I  went  down  to  the  coal -yards.  I  was 
sent  down  there  to  look  after  the  coal.  As  I 
went  out  to  the  cars,  I  heard  some  one  moaning 
in  one  of  those  little  wretched  shanties,  and  when 
I  was  coming  back  I  knocked  at  the  door,  and  was 
admitted,  and  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Finch,"  and  the  tears 
came  into  his  eyes,  ' 'I  think  they  are  starving !  I  built 
a  fire  for  them.  Just  think,"  said  he,  "of  the  poor 
things,  starving  to  death  on  this  bitter  cold  night!" 
The  words  came  direct  from  his  big  Irish  heart. 

I  said  to  him :     "Jim,  where  did  you  get  the  coal  ?" 

He  said  it  was  none  of  my  business.     "I  came  up 


QUESTIONS   ASKED    BY    JURY   ANSWERED.         189 

town,  Mr.  Finch,"  he  said;  "the  restaurants  are  all 
closed;  I  saw  a  light  in  your  window,  and  thought 
you  would  help  me." 

I  said:    "Certainly." 

I  went  home  and  called  my  wife.  A  basket  was 
packed.  My  wife  dressed  and  went  with  me.  It  was 
a  bitter  night  in  December.  "We  went  down  the 
streets  of  the  city,  out  into  that  wretched  section,  and 
went  into  that  home.  You,  ladies,  have,  perhaps,  seen 
such  homes.  There  was  no  need  of  words  to  tell  that 
they  were  suffering.  There  sat  the  poor  woman  in 
her  wretchedness.  My  wife  asked  what  she  could 
do  for  her.  She  straightened  up  and  said: 

"  Mrs.  Finch,  I  am  not  a  beggar.  I  do  not  want  you 
to  give  me  anything.  If  you  will  just  lend  it  to  me  I 
will  pay  it  all  back  to  you  some  time.  If  I  had 
some  clothes  and  shoes  I  could  take  care  of  my  own 
babies.  It  is  hard,  oh,  so  hard,  to  be  here  with 
such  clothes  that  I  cannot  go  out  in  the  street,  and 
the  baby  dying  in  my  arms!" 

I  thought  so,  too.  I  asked  her  where  her  husband 
was.  I  knew  him  to  be  one  of  the  best  stone- 
masons in  the  city.  I  knew  that  because  he  had  done 
some  work  for  me  a  short  time  before.  She  said  he 
had  been  put  in  the  city  jail  for  eight  days,  to  serve 
out  a  sentence  for  drunkenness.  "Punish  the  man 
who  gets  drunk."  The  law  had  done  that,  and  left 
his  wife  and  babies  to  starve  and  freeze  in  midwinter. 

Any  system  of  law  that  punishes  the  wife  and 
children  for  the  sins  of  the  father  is  a  disgrace  to  a 


190       THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

civilized  people.  If  it  is  right  to  license  a  man  to 
make  men  drunk,  it  is  right  to  get  drunk;  and  a 
nation  that  licenses  the  manufacture  of  drunkards, 
and  then  punishes  men  for  doing  exactly  what  it  has 
licensed  a  man  to  make  them  do,  is  a  long  way  from 
civilization  of  the  highest  type. 

Remove  temptation  by  the  police  power  of  the  state 
and  educational  methods  will  begin  to  influence  the 
individual.  Moral  suasion  will  never  have  a  fair  chanca 
until  the  state  has  branded  liquor-selling  as  a  crime. 

12th  Question.  "  Men  are  like  hogs.  You  can  coax  them  but 
you  cannot  drive  them.  Will  not  the  amendment  make  men 
worse?" 

I  have  always  doubted  the  theory  of  evolution  from 
monkeys  and  am  not  inclined  to  admit  that  reasoning 
men  are  like  unreasoning  hogs.  The  only  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  the  statement  is  the  character  and 
habits  of  the  liquor  men.  A  traffic  that  estimates 
man,  "created  in  the  image  of  his  Maker,"  as  a  hog, 
ought  to  die. 

Men  can  be  driven.  The  late  war  proves  it.  Men 
who  are  in  the  wrong,  who  know  they  are  wrong,  are 
the  greatest  cowards  in  the  world. 

The  amendment  is  reasonable  and  right.  The 
people  of  Iowa  are  a  reading,  thinking,  reasonable 
people.  They  will  see  the  justice  of  the  action  and 
sustain  it  The  amendment  will  close  up  the  human 
hog-pens,  and  the  "men  like  hogs"  will  go  with  the 
pens. 

13th  Question.  "  If  you  say  a  man  shall  not  do  a  thing,  he  will 
desire  to  do  it.  Will  not  the  tendency  of  the  amendment  be  to- 
lead  men  to  desire  to  break  it  ?" 


QUESTIONS   ASKED   BY  JURY   ANSWERED.        191 

This  is  practically  the  last  question  in  another 
form.  If  the  statement  made  is  correct,  statesmen 
have  always  been  in  error.  No  laws  should  be 
passed  prohibiting  theft,  because  if  you  say  a  man 
shall  not  steal,  it  will  excite  a  desire  in  him  to  steal. 
No  laws  should  be  passed  prohibiting  crime,  because 
if  you  say  a  man  shall  not  commit  crime,  he  will 
desire  to  commit  crime.  The  correct  way,  accord- 
ing to  this  "hog  theory,"  would  be,  to  pass  a  law 
saying  a  man  should  steal,  that  he  should  be  fined 
if  he  did  not  steal.  Such  a  law  would  excite  the 
hoggish  propensities  of  man,  and  he  would  not  steal, 
simply  because  the  law  said  he  must.  Laws  should 
be  passed  saying  men  should  commit  crime,  with 
adequate  penalties  to  force  men  to  obey.  Such  laws 
would  excite  the  hoggish  propensity  to  disobey  and 
no  crime  would  be  committed.  Not  only  have 
parents  and  statesmen  blundered,  but  God  himself 
was  mistaken  in  thinking  human  beings,  reasonable 
beings  instead  of  brutes,  if  this  saloon  theory  is  correct. 
I  only  wonder  how  any  person  dare  so  insult  an  audi- 
ence. Man  is  not  a  hog.  He  thinks  and  reasons. 
He  is  eminently  an  ethical  being.  The  question 
and  statement  are  not  founded  on  fact,  but  suppose 
a  condition  of  things  which  never  did  and  never  can 
exist. 

14th  Question.  "Is  not  temptation  necessary  to  the  develop- 
ment of  moral  character  ?  " 

The  question  implies  that  evil  is  an  educator  of 
the  moral  forces.  If  temptation  develops  character, 


192   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  government  ought  to  license  gambling-hells,  so 
that  the  boys,  by  being  tempted  to  gamble,  would 
become  honest  citizens.  If  temptation  develops 
character,  the  government  ought  to  license  houses  of 
ill-fame,  and  libertines,  so  that  your  daughters,  by 
being  tempted,  would  become  virtuous  women. 
Would  you  wish  to  try  so  dangerous  an  experiment  ? 
The  dual  nature  of  man  must  always  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  the  discussion  of  such  problems. 
The  intellectual,  god-nature  is  always  at  war  with 
the  passionate,  brute-nature.  The  highest  type  of 
manhood  is  developed  when  the  passionate  or  brute 
forces  are  held  in  check  by  the  intellectual  nature, 
and  made  to  act  as  the  motive  power  to  accomplish 
grand  deeds.  The  lowest  type  of  manhood  is  de- 
veloped when  the  intellectual  forces  are  the  slaves 
of  the  brute  nature,  compelled  to  devise  ways  and 
means  to  gratify  lust  and  passion.  The  associations 
of  childhood  develop  one  or  the  other  of  these  forces. 
Like  produces  like.  Throw  around  a  child  influ- 
ences which  develop  the  intellectual  nature,  and  the 
chances  are  in  favor  of  his  being  a  manly  man. 
Throw  around  a  child  influences  which  develop  the 
brute  or  passionate  nature,  and  the  chances  are  in 
favor  of  his  being  a  bad  man — a  criminal.  "Evil 
associations  corrupt  good  manners"  is  an  old  saw, 
the  truth  of  which  no  sane  man  will  dispute.  One 
might  as  well  hope  to  develop  a  rare  rose  by  taking 
it  from  the  sunlight  and  placing  it  in  the  dark,  damp 
cellar,  as  to  expect  to  develop  noble,  pure  manhood 


THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


QUESTIONS   ASKED    BY   JURY   ANSWERED.         193 

and  womanhood  by  surrounding  the  child  with  the 
noxious  atmosphere  of  vice  and  crime. 

No  man  ever  understood  human  nature  as  the 
Master  who  taught  us  to  pray:  "  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil." 

15th  Question.  "  Will  not  the  passage  of  the  amendment  make 
the  temperance  question  a  political  question?" 

Politics  is  the  science  of  government.  Politics  is 
that  division  of  ethics  which  deals  with  the  govern- 
ment of  a  state ;  the  preservation  of  its  prosperity ; 
safety  and  peace;  the  protection  of  citizens;  the 
preservation  and  improvement  of  their  morals.  Any 
institution,  trade  or  custom  which  affects  the  safety, 
prosperity  or  peace  of  a  state,  or  which  injures  the 
morals  of  the  citizens,  is  political.  In  a  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  any  trade  which  affects 
the  people  injuriously,  affects  the  government,  com- 
posed of  the  people,  injuriously,  and  its  regulation  or 
destruction  belongs  properly  to  the  science  of  govern- 
ment— politics.  The  school  and  the  church  influence 
the  unit  of  the  political  structure — the  citizen ;  and  to 
that  extent  are  political  institutions.  Every  sermon 
or  lesson  which  influences  the  life  and  conduct  of 
the  citizen  has  a  good  or  bad  influence  on  the  state, 
and  to  that  extent  is  political.  The  old  cry  of  polit- 
ical demagogues:  "Keep  temperance  and  religion 
out  of  politics,"  is  a  sample  of  stupid  ignorance 
boiled  down. 

No  other  institution  in  America  exerts  the  terri- 
ble influence  on  political  action  that  is  exerted  by 


194   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

the  liquor  traffic.  The  questions,  "What  can  the 
government  do  with  the  traffic?"  "How  can  the 
government  destroy  the  pernicious  influence  of  this 
traffic?*'  are  questions  which  must  be  determined 
by  political  action.  The  laws  passed  to  regulate 
and  restrain  these  influences  are  political  measures 
devised  to  meet  the  issues  presented  by  the  liquor 
traffic.  The  question  is  a  political  question  now, 
and  it  will  remain  one  until  it  is  settled  by  political 
action. 

If  the  questioner  means  to  ask  whether  it  will 
become  a  partisan  question,  I  answer,  it  will.  In  a 
government  like  ours,  parties  are  political  machines 
to  work  out  political  problems.  The  government  is 
a  government  of  the  party  in  power,  and  until  the 
government, — the  party  in  power — pronounces  in 
favor  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  it  will  be  openly 
violated.  With  one  political  party  openly  opposed 
to  the  law,  and  the  other  political  party  a  coward, 
prohibition  will  be  between  the  "devil  and  the  deep 
sea,"  and  will  remain  largely  a  dead  letter  on  your 
statute  books.  Unless  one  of  the  present  parties 
shall,  in  its  state  and  national  platforms,  declare  in 
favor  of  passing  and  enforcing  prohibition,  a  party 
will  be  formed  which  will  carry  the  measure  to  vic- 
tory. Boobies  in  the  science  of  government  may 
prate  about  settling  this  as  a  non-partisan  question, 
but  persons  who  have  had  experience  in  public  lifer 
who  know  what  lever  is  necessary  to  move  grave 
dangers  from  the  path  of  government,  will  not  in- 
dulge in  such  idle  fancies. 


QUESTIONS   ASKED   BY   JURY   ANSWERED.         195 

16th  Question.  "  What  is  your  opinion  of  the  success  of  pro- 
hibition as  tried  in  Maine  ?  " 

Prohibition  has  been  a  success  wherever  tried.  It 
is  truly  a  wonder  that  it  has,  for  it  has  never  had  a 
fair  trial.  The  state  has  branded  the  business  of 
making  drunkards  as  a  crime.  The  influence  of  the 
general  government  has  always  antagonized  state 
action.  The  state  has  prohibited  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  liquor.  The  general  government  has 
always,  by  its  power  to  regulate  inter-state  commerce, 
licensed  the  importation  of  liquors  into  the  state. 
The  state  has  prohibited  the  sale  of  liquor.  The 
general  government  has  said  to  liquor  outlaws: 
"  Pay  into  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  twenty- 
five  dollars  a  year,  and  you  may  violate  the  state'  law 
by  selling  the  liquors.  Congress  has  licensed  you  to 
import,  and  the  agents  of  the  United  States  will  re- 
main silent,  wink  at  your  crime,  and  let  the  state 
punish  you  if  it  can."  Prohibition  will  only  be  tested 
when  the  general  government  ceases  to  be  a  partner 
or  rather  beneficiary  of  the  liquor  traffic;  when  the 
national  constitution  shall  prohibit  the  importation, 
manufacture  and  sale  o£  alcoholic  liquors ;  when  the 
political  party  controlling  the  nation  is  in  favor  of 
prohibition  honestly  enforced. 

In  the  face  of  such  disadvantages,  prohibition  has 
succeeded.  Let  us  examine  the  evidence  to  see  if 
this  is  not  true. 

Remember  the  rule  of  law  to  be:  "Hearsay  evi- 
dence is  uniformly  held  incompetent  to  establish  any 
specific  fact,  which,  in  its  nature,  is  susceptible  of 


196   THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

being  proved  by  witnesses  who  can  speak  from  their 
own  knowledge."  The  learned  author  who  lays 
down  the  rule  says:  "  That  this  species  of  testimony 
supposes  something  better,  which  might  be  adduced 
in  the  particular  case,  is  not  the  sole  ground  of 
its  exclusion.  Its  extrinsic  weakness,  its  incom- 
petency  to  satisfy  the  mind  as  to  the  existence  of  the 
fact,  and  the  frauds  which  may  be  practiced  under 
its  cover,  combine  to  support  the  rule  that  hearsay 
evidence  is  totally  inadmissible." 

The  prohibitory  law  of  Maine  is  on  trial.  You 
are  the  jury.  The  evidence  produced  must  be 
such  evidence  as  would  be  received  in  a  court  of 
justice.  The  enemies  of  the  law  open  their  side  of 
the  case  with  the  statement  that  the  law  is  a  failure. 
They  are  asked  to  produce  their  witnesses.  They 
offer  newspaper  articles  written  by  irresponsible 
anonymous  correspondents  and  put  men  upon  the 
stand  to  swear :  "I  heard  it  did  not  prohibit."  Would 
such  evidence  be  admissible  to  prove  anything  ?  In 
.a  court  it  would  be  rejected  as  hearsay. 

Cross-examine  one  of  these  witnesses: 

"  You  stated  prohibition  was  a  failure  in  Maine. 
Tell  the  jury  what  you  know  about  it." 

"I  think  I  read  about  it  in  a  paper." 

"When?" 

"This  morning." 

"What  paper  was  it  published  in?" 

"  The  Chicago  Tribune." 

"Was  it  an  original  article  or  a  copied  one?" 

"It  was  copied  from  the  New  York  Sun." 


-QUESTIONS   ASKED   BY    JURY    ANSWERED.        197 

"From  what  source  did  the  Sun  get  its  infor- 
mation?" 

"I  do  not  know." 

"  Do  you  wish  to  swear  that  you  know  anything 
about  the  results  of  prohibition  in  Maine  ?  " 

"Only  what  I  read." 

"  That  is  not  an  answer  to  the  question.  Do  you 
know  anything  about  it?" 

"No." 

The  prohibitionists  now  call  United  States  Senator 
Frye,  of  Maine. 

"  Mr.  Frye,  where  do  you  reside  ?" 

"In  the  state  of  Maine." 

"  Do  you  frequently  visit  different  parts  of  the 
state?" 

"I  do." 

"Are  you  familiar  with  the  practice  in  your  state 
courts?" 

"lam." 

"And  know  something  of  the  moral  and  social 
condition  of  the  people  in  your  state  ?" 

"  I  do." 

"  Tell  the  jury  how  the  prohibitory  law  has  affected 
your  state  ?"  - 

"  I  can,  and  do,  from  my  own  personal  observa- 
tion, unhesitatingly  affirm  that  the  consumption  of 
intoxicating  liquors  is  not  to-day  one-fourth  so  great 
as  it  was  twenty  years  ago ;  that,  in  the  country  por- 
tions of  the  state,  the  sale  and  use  have  almost 
entirely  ceased;  that  the  law  itself,  under  a  vigorous 


198      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

enforcement  of  its  provisions,  has  created  a  temper- 
ance sentiment  which  is  marvellous,  and  to  which 
opposition  is  powerless.  In  my  opinion,  our  remark- 
able temperance  reform  of  to-day  is  the  legitimate 
child  of  that  law." 

Call  Hon.  Hannibal  Hamlin.  Mr.  Hamlin  is  asked 
the  questions  which  qualify  him  as  a  witness,  and 
testifies : 

"  I  concur  in  the  statements  made  by  Mr.  Frye. 
Of  the  great  good  produced  by  the  prohibitory  liquor 
law  of  Maine,  no  man  can  doubt,  who  has  seen  its 
results.  It  has  been  of  immense  value." 

Call  James  G.  Blaine.  He  is  qualified  as  a  wit- 
ness, and  testifies: 

"  The  people  of  Maine  are  industrious  and  provi- 
dent, and  wise  laws  have  aided  them.  They  are 
sober,  earnest  and  thrifty.  Intemperance  has  steadily 
decreased  in  the  state,  since  the  first  enactment  of 
the  prohibitory  law,  until  now  it  can  be  said  with 
truth  that  there  is  no  equal  number  of  people  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  world,  among  whom  so  small  an  amount 
of  intoxicating  liquor  is  consumed,  as  among  the  six 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  of  Maine." 

The  list  is  continued  until  every  leading  public  man 
in  Maine  has  testified,  and  each  swears  to  the  same 
thing.  The  records  of  the  courts,  prisons  and  alms- 
houses  are  offered  to  corroborate  these  witnesses  and 
the  case  is  given  to  you. 

Suppose  in  a  case  involving  five  hundred  dollars 
the  same  class  of  witnesses  had  been  called — which 


QUESTIONS   ASKED   BY   JURY   ANSWERED.        199 

side  would  you  give  the  verdict?  Would  you  be- 
lieve the  newspaper  clippings  and  idle  stories 
by  interested  parties,  or  disinterested  witnesses  like 
Frye,  Hamlin  and  Blaine?  A  question  of  veracity 
is  raised  by  the  testimony.  Either  the  stories  offered 
by  the  liquor  men  are  false,  or  Frye,  Blaine,  Hamlin, 
Perham,  Dingley  and  others  lie.  In  determining 
which  evidence  is  false,  you  must  stop  and  see  who 
has  reasons  for  lying.  If  prohibition  is  a  success, 
it  destroys  the  liquor  business.  If  the  people  in 
your  state  can  be  made  to  believe  prohibition  a 
failure,  and  by  such  belief  be  led  to  defeat  the 
amendment,  the  liquor  traffic  will  continue;  hence 
the  liquor-dealers  have  a  financial  reason  for  lying. 
What  reason  has  Blaine  for  testifying  falsely  in  this 
case  ?  Will  he  gain  anything  financially  by  so  doing  ? 
No.  Will  he  advance  his  political  interests  by  so 
doing?  No.  The  same  is  true  of  the  other  wit- 
nesses called  by  the  prohibitionists.  If  the  evidence 
in  this  case  is  taken  and  considered  as  it  would  be 
in  a  court  of  justice,  the  verdict  must  be:  "  Prohibi- 
tion is  a  success  in  Maine." 

The  evidence  which  the  liquor  men  bring  from 
Kansas  is  of  the  same  character  as  that  brought 
against  the  law  in  Maine.  The  prohibitionists  bring 
St.  John  and  other  state  officers  who  testify  to  the 
success  of  the  law.  In  addition,  I  wish  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  admissions  of  the  liquor  men  thern^- 
selves.  They  are  the  parties  in  interest  and  their 
admissions  may  certainly  be  accepted  as  evidence. 


^00      THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

My  talented  friend  Hon.  Frank  J.  Sibley,  wishing 
to  ascertain  from  the  liquor  men  themselves,  how  the 
law  was  working,  requested  a  friend  to  write,  at  his 
dictation,  to  a  number  of  ex-liquor-sellers  asking 
what  were  the  chances  to  start  a  saloon  in  Kansas. 
Let  me  read  one  answer: 

"  CLAY  CENTEB,  KANSAS,  June  10, 1882. 

"  DEAH  FEIEND: — I  write  you  a  few  lines  to  let  you  know  that  I 
received  your  letter  a  few  days  ago.  You  don't  want  to  come  to 
Kansas  to  start  a  saloon  unless  you  want  to  get  busted.  Kansas  is 
a  hell  of  a  country.  I  just  laid  out  four  weeks  in  jail  for  selling 
beer  and  I  got  enough  of  it.  Don't  come  to  Kansas  to  start  a 
saloon.  JOE  MONTEL." 

Another,  written  in  German,  translated,  reads: 

"  BELOIT,  KANSAS,  May  21,  1882. 

"  Your  letter  I  have  received,  and  as  you  require  me  to  let  you 
know  what  the  prospects  for  selling  beer  and  wine, — answer,  none 
at  all  to  begin  a  saloon,  because  the  temperance  people  will  not 
let  you  sell  anything.  JOHN  EBEBLE." 

I  hold  in  my  hands  copies  of  letters  received  by 
Mr.  Sibley  from  ex-liquor-sellers  in  eleven  different 
towns  and  cities  of  Kansas,  all  making  substantially 
the  same  statements. 

In  view  of  all  the  facts,  can  I  do  other  than  answer, 

PROHIBITION  IS  A  SUCCESS. 

Gentlemen,  voters,  that  is  our  case.  Take  it,  and 
as  a  jury,  bound  by  the  most  sacred  obligation — , 
your  honor  as  citizens — pass  upon  the  evidence  and 
arguments.  The  evidence  in  regard  to  the  guilt  of 
the  traffic,  is  not  contradicted.  No  attempt  is  made 
by  the  liquor  advocates  to  explain.  The  evidence  all 
says:  "The  liquor  traffic  is  guilty;"  and  I  have  no- 
doubt  what  will  be  your  verdict. 


QUESTIONS   ASKED   BY    JURY   ANSWERED.        201 

To  you,  then,  we  submit  our  indictment.  AVe 
submit  their  threats ;  our  evidence.  We  submit 
their  blackguardism,  false  assertions,  bulldozing  and 
defiance  of  law;  our  proofs,  uncontradicted  and 
undeniable; — and  we  ask  you,  citizens,  voters,  to 
render  a  verdict  which  shall  stay  this  foul  curse. 
Prayers,  tears  and  persuasion  have  been  tried;  but 
the  lecherous,  licentious  traffic  still  destroys  the 
youth,  manhood  and  virtue  of  the  land. 

Richelieu,  the  French  cardinal,  whose  niece  was 
pursued  by  like  bold  and  shameless  enemies,  plucked 
from  his  breast  a  cross,  and  drawing  the  circle  of 
the  church  of  Rome  around  her,  hurled  in  their 
faces  the  defiance: 

"  Look  where  she  stands  ! 

Around  her  form  I  draw  the  awful  circle  of  our  kingly  church; 
Step  but  a  foot  within  the  hallowed  line, 
And  on  thy  head — yea,  though  it  wear  a  crown — 
I'll  hurl  the  curse  of  Rome." 

Gentlemen,  all  other  remedies  have  failed.  We 
ask  you  to  draw  the  protecting  circle  of  the  consti- 
tution around  our  homes  and  say  to  this  "black 
death,"  "Thou  shalt  not  cross  these  thresholds," 


THE  AMENDMENTS 


AND 


ARGUMENTS  ON  SPECIAL  POINTS. 


THE  KANSAS  AMENDMENT, 

AS    AJXJPTED  BY  THE  PEOPLE   AND  SUSTAINED  BY  TOT  8UPBEME  COBSWr 
OP  THE  STATE. 

The  following  is  the  amendment  to  the  Kansas  state  con- 
stitution'which  became  Section   10  of  Article   15: 

"The  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  shall  be  for- 
ever prohibited  in  this  state,  except  for  medical,  scientific  and 
mechanical  purposes." 


THE  IOWA  AMENDMENT, 

ADOPTED   BY   THE   PEOPLE   JUNE   2?TH,  1882,  AT  A    SPECIAL   ELECTION, 

BEADS  AS  FOLLOWS: 

"  Sec.  26.  No  person  shall  manufacture  for  sale,  sell,  or  keep 
for  sale  as  a  beverage,  any  intoxicating  liquors  whatever,  including 
ale,  wine  and  beer.  The  General  Assembly  shall,  by  law,  pre- 
scribe regulations  for  the  enforcement  of  the  prohibition  herein 
contained,  and  shall  thereby  provide  suitable  penalties  for  viola- 
tions of  the  provisions  hereof." 


The  Iowa  amendment,  after  a  full  and  free  discussion,  both  for 
and  against,  was  adopted  by  over  twenty-nine  thousand  majority. 
Immediately  after  its  adoption,  the  entire  liquor  power  of  the 
nation  combined  to  overthrow  the  popular  will. 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  state  declared,  in  their  conven- 
tion, their  sympathy  with  the  outlawed  liquor-dealers,  and  their 
intention  to  work  for  the  repeal  of  the  amendment.  The 
Republican  party  met  in  state  convention,  and,  although  the 
question  of  the  enforcement  of  the  amendment  was  the  absorbing 
question  in  the  state,  it  was  entirely  ignored  in  their  platform. 

The  amendment  thus  standing  with  open  and  defiant  enemies 
on  the  one  side,  and  cowardly  politicians  controlling  the  other, 
was  fiercely  attacked. 

A  fictitious  case  to  test  the  validity  of  the  amendment  was 
concocted  between  a  brewer  and  a  saloon-keeper.  A  district 
judge  sustained  the  technical  objections  to  the  constitutionality 
of  the  manner  of  submitting  the  amendment.  The  case  was 
taken  to  the  supreme  court,  where,  under  influences  which  may  be 
surmised,  if  not  known,  a  mere  clerical  error  was  held  sufficient 
to  invalidate  the  declaration  of  the  whole  people,  expressed  by  a 
decisive  majority  at  the  ballot-box. 

Mr.  Justice  Beck,  alone,  of  the  whole  court,  dared  to  stand  for 
the  people  against  this  gigantic  wrong. 


ABE  LIQUOE  DEALEKS  ENTITLED  TO  IN- 
DEMNITY FBOM  THE  STATE  FOE  PEOP- 
EETY  INJUEED  BY  THE  ENACTMENT  OF 
PBOHIBITOBY  LAWS? 

ADDRESS    OF    HON.    OLIVER     P.     MASON,    EX-CHIEF    JUS- 
TICE  OF   NEBRASKA. 

[This  speech  was  delivered  in  City  Hall,  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  in  response  to  a 
request  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  legislature  then  in  session. 

The  liquor  advocates  had  claimed  vested  rights  in  property  and  that  if  the 
constitutional  amendment  was  passed,  the  state  would  be  responsible  for  prop- 
erty destroyed.  To  these  claims  Judge  Mason  replied.] 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — The  legal  questions 
involved  in  the  proposed  constitutional  amendment 
are  two  in  number,  viz: 

1.  Whether  this  would  be   a  constitutional  ordi- 
nance, depriving   persons  of   property  without  due 
process  of  law;  and 

2.  "Whether,  if  it  were  so,  it  would  be  so  far  a 
violation  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  in  that  regard, 
as  would  call  for  judicial  action,  or  interference  by 
the  courts. 

Both  these  questions  are  of  importance,  and  require 
serious  and  careful  consideration.  They  are  not  to 
be  lightly  treated.  Neither  of  the  questions  are  de- 

X» 


206  AEGUMENTS    ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

cided  in  the  case  of  Bartmeyer  vs.  Iowa ;  and  neither 
of  them  were  drawn  in  issue  in  the  case  of  Wyne- 
hamer  vs.  The  People  in  13  N.  Y.,  p.  378,  and  this 
case  was  never  the  law  and  has  been  overruled.  The 
last  case,  indeed,  arose  in  July,  1855,  long  before 
the  fourteenth  constitutional  amendment  was  adopted, 
and  under  a  statute  of  New  York  for  the  prevention 
of  intemperance,  pauperism,  and  crime,  and  not 
upon  a  constitutional  ordinance,  or  a  provision  of  a 
stato  constitution.  Nor  were  these  questions  con- 
sidered in  the  case  of  Bartmeyer  vs.  Iowa,  because 
the  court  says: 

"  But,  if  it  were  true,  and  it  was  fairly  presented  to  us,  that  the 
defendant  was  the  owner  of  the  glass  of  liquor  which  he  sold 
to  Hickey  at  the  time  the  state  of  Iowa  first  imposed  an  absolute 
prohibition  on  the  sale  of  such  liquors,  then  we  consider  these 
questions  would  arise;  but  in  the  case  before  us,  the  supreme  court 
<>f  Iowa,  whose  judgment  we  are  called  upon  to  review,  did  not 
consider  it." 

They  said  the  record  did  not  present  this  matter, 
and  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  expressly 
declined  to  consider  these  questions ;  they  did  not 
arise  in  that  case. 

But  there  is  a  wide  distinction  between  a  consti- 
tutional provision  and  an  act  of  the  legislature. 
The  one  is  the  act  of  the  creature,  the  other  of  the 
creator.  The  constitution  is  certain  and  fixed.  It 
is  the  expressed  and  established  will  of  the  people, 
and  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  It  is  para- 
mount to  the  power  of  the  legislature  and  all  other 
departments  of  the  government  What  is  the  legis.- 


SPEECH    BY    OLIVER   P.    MASON.  207 

lature?  The  creature  of  the  constitution.  To  the 
constitution  the  legislature  owes  its  existence,  and 
from  the  constitution  it  derives  its  power.  The  con- 
stitution is  the  work  of  the  people  in  their  original 
sovereign  capacity.  Statute  laws  are  the  work  or 
the  will  of  the  legislature  in  its  derivative  or  subor- 
dinate capacity.  The  one  is  the  work  of  the  creature, 
the  other  of  the  creator.  The  constitution  fixes  a 
limit  upon  legislative  authority,  and  prescribes  the 
orbit  within  which  it  must  move.  The  power  of  the 
people  in  their  constitution-making  capacity  is 
omnipotent,  sovereign,  and  supreme.  Upon  sover- 
eignty, among  nations,  there  are  no  limitations  or 
restrictions.  Upon  the  people  of  the  states  of  the 
Union  in  their  sovereign  and  constitution -making 
capacity,  there  is  the  limitation  and  restriction  vol- 
untarily imposed  of  the  federal  constitution.  Inde- 
pendent of  that,  there  is  no  limit  upon  the  people  in 
their  sovereign  power,  except  such  as  the  people 
imposed  upon  themselves.  It  is  an  unseemly  thing 
for  the  creature  to  call  in  question  the  power  of  its 
creator,  or  for  the  legislature  to  say  to  us — the 
people — in  our  sovereign  and  constitution -making 
power,  I  will  not  trust  you,  the  creator,  to  sit  in 
judgment,  because  you  might  decide  contrary  to  my 
views* 

"  Upon  what  meat  doth  this  our  Caesar  feed, 
That  he  is  grown  so  great?" 

Who  made  thee  wiser  than  all  the  people  ?     For 
remember,  the  question  is  not  whether  the  legislature 


.208  ARGUMENTS   ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

shall  make  this  law ;  the  legislature  in  its  legislative 
capacity  is  not  called  upon,  neither  has  it  the  power 
to  make  this  constitutional  ordinance  without  sub- 
mitting it  to  the  people — to  the  power  that  made  the 
legislature,  to  its  creator.  A  majority  of  the  people 
demand  the  submission  of  this  amendment.  And 
what  answer  shall  a  creature  return  to  the  creator  ? 
Shall  it  say:  I  will  not  trust  you;  you  will  trample 
upon  private  rights ;  you  will  disregard  justice  ?  I 
will  direct,  aye,  dictate  to  the  people  what  they  shall 
and  shall  not  do. 

Shall  the  legislature  of  this  state  deny  to  the 
power  that  made  it  and  clothed  it  with  what  of 
legislative  power  it  possesses,  the  right  to  have  the 
proposed  amendment  submitted  for  adoption  or 
rejection?  That  act  may  be  perpetrated  once,  but 
these  same  gentlemen  will  never  do  it  twice. 

But  to  return  to  the  discussion  of  legal  proposi- 
tions involved  in  this  controversy.  I  will  show  that 
the  state  may  prohibit  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
and  that  such  prohibition  is  not  obnoxious  to  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  nor  to  the  four- 
teenth amendment  thereof. 

In  England  no  question  has  ever  arisen  as  to  the 
legislative  power  over  the  liquor  traffic,  for  it  is  a 
fundamental  maxim  there,  that  parliament  is  politi- 
cally omnipotent,  or  as  Blackstone  puts  it,  "can 
do  everything  that  is  not  naturally  impossible." 
(Blackstone's  Com.,  Book  1,  p.  161.)  But  in  our 
government,  or  in  governments  like  ours,  where 


SPEECH   BY    OLIVER    P.    MASON.  209 

state  constitutions  impose  limitations  upon  the 
powers  of  the  legislature,  it  is  to  be  expected,  where 
legislation  affects  the  interests  of  so  extensive  a 
traffic  as  the  liquor  interest,  such  laws  should 
receive  jealous  examination,  to  set  them  aside 
as  unconstitutional.  "There  is  no  law,"  says  Tar- 
bell,  in  Riley  vs.  The  State  of  Mississippi,  "which 
is  so  resolutely  resisted  by  the  utmost  ingenuity  of 
the  human  mind,  and  by  the  ablest  talent,  as  the 
statutes  regulating  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liq- 
uors." The  question  of  the  constitutionality  of 
such  statutes,  says  Mr.  Bishop,  in  treating  of  statu- 
tory crimes,  "has  been  more  frequently  agitated 
than  any  other  constitutional  question  presented  to 
our  tribunals."  And  yet  it  will  be  found  both  the 
principles  of  regulation  and  prohibition,  in  the 
essential  features  of  the  varied  laws  upon  this  sub- 
ject, have  been  upheld  by  the  highest  courts  in 
every  part  of  the  land.  To  give  an  array  of  the 
names  of  the  multitudinous  cases  in  which  the 
principles  of  license  and  prohibition  have  been  sus- 
tained, would  weary  yotfr  patience,  and  I  prefer  to 
present  a  summary  of  the  well-settled  doctrine  as 
given  in  the  works  of  standard  authority. 

Said  Judge  Cooley,  of  Michigan,  in  his  work  on 
constitutional  limitations: 

.  "That  legislation  of  this  character  was  void,  so  far  as  it  affected 
imported  liquors,  or  such  as  might  be  introduced  from  one  state 
into  another,  because  in  conflict  with  the  power  of  Congress  over 
commerce,  was  strongly  urged  in  the  license  cases  before  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  but  that  view  did  not  obtain 


210  ARGUMENTS   ON    SPECIAL   POINTS. 

the  assent  of  the  court.  The  majority  of  the  court  expressed  the 
opinion,  which,  however,  was  obiter  in  those  cases,  that  the  intro- 
duction of  imported  liquors  into  a  state  and  their  sale  in  the 
original  package  as  imported,  could  not  be  forbidden,  because  to 
do  so  would  be  to  forbid  what  Congress  in  its  regulation  of  com- 
merce and  in  the  levy  of  imposts  had  permitted.  But  it  was 
conceded  by  all  that  when  the  original  package  was  broken  up 
for  use  or  for  retail  by  the  importer,  and  also  when  the  commodity 
had  passed  from  his  hands  into  the  hands  of  a  purchaser,  it 
ceased  to  be  an  import  or  a  part  of  foreign  commerce.  It  would 
seem  from  the  views  expressed  by  the  several  members  of  the 
court,  in  these  cases,  that  the  state  laws  known  as  prohibitory 
liquor  laws,  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a 
beverage,  so  far  as  legislation  can  accomplish  that  object,  can  not 
be  held  void  as  in  conflict  with  the  power  of  Congress  to  regulate 
commerce  and  levy  imposts  and  duties." 

Those  who  care  to  see  the  array  of  cases  which 
sustain  these  propositions  may  find  ihem  collected 
in  the  United  States  Digest,  Vol.  7,  p.  7,  et  seq. 

"  The  same  laws  have  also  been  sustained  when  the  question  of 
conflict  with  state  constitutions  or  with  general  fundamental 
principles  has  been  raised.  They  are  looked  upon  as  police 
regulations,  established  by  the  legislature  for  the  prevention  of 
intemperance,  pauperism  and  crime,  and  for  the  abatement  of 
nuisances." 

How  is  this,  can  not  abate  a  nuisance  ?  We  will 
see  as  we  go  along. 

"  And  is  only  where,  in  framing  such  legislation,  care  has  not 
been  taken  to  observe  those  principles  of  protection  which  sur- 
round the  persons  and  dwellings  of  individuals,  securing  them 
against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  and  giving  them  a 
right  to  a  trial  before  condemnation,  that  the  courts  have  felt  at 
liberty  to  declare  that  it  exceeded  the  proper  exercise  of  police 
regulation."  Page  581,  et  seq. 

And  it  has  been  since  decided  by  the  same  court 
that  neither  the  provision  of  the  internal  revenue 


SPEECH   BY    OLIVER   P.    MASON.  211 

act,  which  required  payment  of  a  license  fee  by 
dealers  in  liquors,  nor  the  tax  affixed  to  sales,  inter- 
fered with  the  operation  of  state  laws.  McGuire  vs. 
Commonwealth,  6  Wallace,  387 ;  Purvear  vs.  Com- 
monwealth, 5  Wallace,  475. 

"The  state  in  the  enactment  of  its  laws  must  exercise  its  judg- 
ment concerning  what  acts  tend  to  corrupt  the  public  morals, 
impoverish  the  community,  disturb  the  public  repose,  injure  the 
other  public  interests,  or  even  impair  the  comfort  of  individual 
members,  over  whom  its  protecting  watch  and  care  are  required. 
And  the  power  to  judge  of  this  question  is  necessarily  reposed 
alone  in  the  legislature,  from  whose  decision  no  appeal  can  be 
taken,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  any  other  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment. When,  therefore,  the  legislature,  with  this  exclusive 
authority,  has  exercised  its  right  of  judging  concerning  this 
legislative  question,  by  the  enactment  of  prohibition,  like  those 
discussed  in  this  chapter,  all  other  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment are  bound  by  the  decision,  which  no  court  has  jurisdiction  to 
review."  Bishop's  Statutory  Crimes,  Sec.  965. 

Now  here  you  have  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  law  writers  in  America,  that  this  ques- 
tion is  committed  solely  to  the  discretion  of  the 
legislature.  That  when  it  has  indicated  its  judg- 
ment upon  the  question  it  is  final. 

Something  more:  "Any  attempt  to  distinguish 
between  the  power  to  regulate  and  the  power  to  pro- 
hibit finds  no  judicial  support." 

In  the  celebrated  license  cases,  5  Howard,  504 
(this,  before  reading  what  Chief -Justice  Tanejr 
says),  who  do  you  think  delivered  the  argument  on 
behalf  of  the  whisky  interests?  Daniel  Webster 
and  Buf us  Choate,  than  whom  no  greater  lawyers 
ever  lived.  And  Webster  contended  that  as  soon  as 


212  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

the  commissioners  refused  to  give  license  it  was  a 
prohibition,  and  therefore  the  constitution  was  in- 
fracted. Now  see  what  answer  the  court  made  to 
him,  and  it  was  an  undivided  court: 

"  And  if  any  state  deems  the  retail  and  internal  traffic  in  ardent 
spirits  injurious  to  its  citizens,  and  calculated  to  produce  idleness, 
vice,  and  debauchery,  I  see  nothing  in  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  to  prevent  it  from,  regulating  or  restraining  the 
traffic,  or  prohibiting  it  altogether,  if  it  thinks  proper." 

That  is  the  answer  of  Chief-Justice  Taney,  sup- 
ported by  all  the  judges  of  that  court.  "I  see 
nothing  in  the  federal  constitution  or  laws  of  Con- 
gress to  prohibit  a  state  legislature  from  prohibiting 
the  traffic  altogether."  But  again,  Justice  McLean 
-says: 

"  The  necessity  of  a  license  presupposes  a  prohibition  of  the 
right  to  sell  as  to  those  who  have  no  license.  If  the  foreign 
article  be  injurious  to  the  health  or  morals  of  the  community,  the 
state  may,  in  the  exercise  of  that  great  and  conservative  police 
power  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  its  prosperity,  prohibit  the 
sale  of  it.  No  one  doubts  this  in  relation  to  infected  goods  or 
lecentious  publications.  Any  diminution  of  the  revenue  from  the 
exercise  of  local  power  would  be  more  than  repaid  by  the  bene- 
ncial  results.  By  preserving,  as  far  as  possible,  the  health,  the 
safety,  and  the  moral  energies  of  society,  its  prosperity  is 
Advanced." 

"  I  admit  as  inevitable,  that  if  the  state  has  the  power  to  restrain 
by  license  to  any  extent,  she  has  the  discretionary  power  to  judge 
of  its  limit,  and  may  go  to  the  limit  of  prohibiting  it  altogether." 

"Woodbury,  J. : 

*'  It  is  the  undoubted  and  reserved  power  of  every  state  here,  as 
a  political  body,  to  decide,  independent  of  any  provisions  made 
by  Congress,  though  subject  not  to  conflict  with  any  of  them 
when  rightful,  who  shall  compose  its  population,  who  become  its 
residents,  who  its  citizens,  who  enjoy  the  privileges  of  its  laws, 


SPEECH   BY   OLIVER    P.    MASON.  213 

and  be  entitled  to  their  protection  and  favor,  and  what  kind  of 
property  and  business  it  will  tolerate  and  protect.  The  power  to 
forbid  the  sale  of  things  .is  surely  as  extensive,  and  rests  on  as 
broad  principles  of  public  security  and  sound  morals  as  that  to 
exclude  persons." 

That  is  Woodbury  of  Pennsylvania. 
Justice  Grier: 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  array  the  appalling  statistics  of  misery, 
pauperism,  and  crime  which  have  their  origin  in  the  use  and 
abuse  of  ardent  spirits.  The  police  power  which  is  exclusively  in 
the  state,  incompetent  to  the  correction  of  these  great  evils  and 
all  measures  of  restraint  or  prohibition  necessary  to  effect  that 
purpose,  are  within  the  scope  of  that  authority,  and  if  a  loss  of 
revenue  should  occur  to  the  United  States  from  a  diminished  con- 
sumption of  ardent  spirits  she  will  be  a  gainer  a  thousandfold  in 
the  health,  wealth,  and  happiness  of  people." 

I  don't  say  that;  Justice  Grier  said  it  And  how 
potent  with  energy,  how  powerful  with  truth  it  lights 
up  the  question  under  consideration  at  the  capital  of 
Nebraska  to-night  But  I  will  pass  on  to  some  later 
opinions,  and  stronger  even  still.  It  may  seem  to 
some  superfluous  to  cite  these  opinions  of  eminent 
judges  upon  a  matter  so  well  settled ;  but  they  are 
valuable,  not  merely  as  authorities,  but  because  they 
are  based  upon  principles,  a  familiar  recurrence  to 
which  is  useful  to  protect  the  popular  mind  frcfm  the 
loose  sophistries  of  the  hour.  The  reader  who  cares 
to  examine  the  adjudicated  cases  further  (to  which 
I  have  referred  him )  will  find  them  to  justify  and 
fortify  the  language  of  Chief-Justice  Harrington, 
of  Delaware: 

u  We  have  seen  no  adjudged  case  which  denies  the  power  of  a 
state  in  the  exercise  of  sovereignty,  to  regulate  the  traffic  in  liquor 


214  ABGUMENTS   ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

for  restraint  as  well  as  for  revenue;  and,  as  a  police  measure,  to 
prohibit  the  sale  of  liquor  as  injurious  to  public  morals  or  dan- 
gerous to  public  peace.  The  subjection  of  private  property,  in 
the  mode  of  its  enjoyment,  to  the  public  good  and  its  subordina- 
tion to  general  rights  liable  to  be  injured  by  its  unrestricted  use, 
is  a  principle  lying  at  the  foundation  of  government.  It  is  a  con- 
dition of  the  social  state;  the  price  of  its  enjoyment;  entering  to 
the  very  structure  of  organized  society;  existing  by  necessity  for 
its  preservation  and  recognized  by  the  constitution  in  the  terms 
of  its  reservation  as  the  right  of  acquiring  and  protecting  reputa- 
tion and  property,  and  attaining  objects  suitable  to  these  condi- 
tions without  injury  to  one  another."  (The  State  vs.  Allmond,  2 
Houst  K.,  614). 

"What  could  be  more  explicit.  Every  man  holds 
his  property  subject  to  this  police  power  to  regulate 
its  use.  What  folly  to  claim  indemnification.  B  :t 
I  do  pot  jnean  any  disrespect  to  those  who  differ  with 
me  on  this  question.  I  am  here  to  discuss  this  ques- 
tion candidly  from  a  legal  standpoint,  and  I  am  not 
yet  done.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  the  opponents  of 
this  measure  at  the  capital  postponed  their  debate  in 
order  that  they  might  "  go  through  "  me  on  this 
legal  argument.  They  can  "go  through  "  me  easily; 
but  there  are  Grier,  and  Harrington,  and  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States,  and  New  Jersey  and 
Delaware.  They  will  have  to  turn  out  their  artillery 
and  cannon,  and  beat  their  drums  and  blow  their 
horns  before  they  "  go  through  "  these  tribunals. 

The  only  new  legal  principle  involved  in  what  is 
called  the  prohibitory  law,  is  the  procedure  in  rem 
against  liquor  unlawfully  kept  to  obtain  its  judicial 
confiscation.  But,  as  Mr.  Bishop  shows,  the  earliest 
of  the  old  English  enactments  on  this  subject  (12 


SPEECH   BY    OLIVER    P.    MASON.  215 

Edw.  2  C.  6,  A.D.  1318)  provides  for  this  forfeiture. 
So  that,  as  he  adds,  "  It  is  one  of  the  modes  of  fine 
known  in  that  foundation  of  laws  from  which  our 
jurisdiction  is  drawn."  (Statutory  Crimes,  Sec.  993). 
And  some  of  the  analogies  of  the  law  and  the 
reason  thereof  are  clearly  stated  by  Chief  -Justice 
Shaw  in  the  leading  case  of  Fisher  vs.  McGirr,  1 
Gray,  p.  1,  (Mass.): 

"  We  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  competent  for  the  legislature  to 
declare  the  possession  of  certain  articles  of  property  either  abso- 
lutely, or  when  held  in  particular  places  and  under  particular 
circumstances,  to  be  unlawful,  because  they  would  be  injurious, 
dangerous,  or  obnoxious;  and  by  due  process  of  law,  by  proceed- 
ings in  rem  to  provide  both  for  the  abatement  of  the  offence  by 
the  seizure  and  confiscation  of  the  property,  by  the  removal,  sale, 
or  destruction  of  the  noxious  articles.  Putrefying  merchandise 
may  be  stored  in  a  warehouse,  where  if  it  remain  it  would  spread 
contagious  disease  through  a  community.  Gunpowder,  an  article 
quite  harmless  in  a  magazine,  may  be  kept  in  a  warehouse  always 
exposed  to  fire,  especially  in  the  night;  however  secreted,  a  fire  in 
the  building  would  be  sure  to  find  it  and  the  lives  and  limbs  of 
courageous  and  public-spirited  firemen  and  citizens  engaged  in 
subduing  the  flames  would  be  endangered  by  a  sudden  and  terri- 
ble explosion.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  such  persons 
should  receive  the  amplest  encouragement  to  do  their  duty  by 
giving  them  the  strongest  assurance  that  the  law  can  give  them, 
that  they  shall  not  be  exposed  to  such  dangers.  This  can  be  done 
only  by  a  rigorous  law  against  so  keeping  gunpowder  to  be  rigor- 
ously enforced  by  seizure,  removal,  and  forfeiture.  The  cases  of 
goods  smuggled  in  violation  of  the  revenue  laws,  and  the  confis- 
cation of  vessels,  boats,  and  other  vehicles  subservient  to  such  un- 
lawful acts,  are  instances  of  the  application  of  law  to  proceedings 


The  theory  of  this  branch  of  the  law  seems  to  be 
this:  That  the  property  of  which  injurious  or  dan- 
gerous use  is  to  be  made  shall  be  seized  or  confis- 


216  ARGUMENTS   ON    SPECIAL   POINTS. 

cated,  because  it  is  so  unlawfully  used  by  the  owner 
or  person  having  the  power  of  disposal,  or  by  some 
person  with  whom  he  has  placed  and  intrusted  it,  or 
at  least  that  he  has  so  carelessly  and  negligently 
used  his  power  and  control  over  it,  that  by  his  fault 
it  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  those  who  have  made 
and  intend  to  make  the  injurious  or  dangerous  use 
of  it,  of  which  the  public  have  a  right  to  complain, 
and  from  which  they  have  a  right  to  be  relieved. 
Therefore,  as  well  to  abate  the  nuisance  as  to  punish 
the  offender  or  careless  owner,  the  property  may  justly 
be  declared  forfeited,  and  either  sold  for  the  public 
benefit  or  destroyed,  as  the  circumstances  of  the 
case  may  require  and  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature 
direct  Besides,  the  actual  seizure  of  the  property 
intended  to  be  offensively  used  may  be  effected  when 
it  would  not  be  practicable  to  detect  and  punish  the 
offender  personally. 

The  common  liquor  traffic  and  its  instruments  are 
thus  remanded  to  the  sole  jurisdiction  of  the  legis- 
lature for  license,  regulating  restriction,  or  prohibi- 
tion and  destruction.  Said  Chief- Justice  Taney  in 
an  opinion  delivered  in  1847  in  the  license  cases 
(page  577,  Howard),  United  States  Supreme  Court 
Reports: 

"  And  if  any  state  decree  the  retail  and  internal  traffic  in  ardent 
spirits  injurious  to  its  citizens  and  calculated  to  produce  idleness, 
vice,  or  debauchery,  I  see  nothing  in  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  to  prevent  it  from  regulating  and  restraining  the  traffic,  or 
from  prohibiting  it  altogether,  if  it  thinks  proper.  Of  the  wisdom 
of  this  policy  it  is  not  my  purpose  or  province  to  speak.  Upon 


SPEECH   BY   OLIVER   P.    MASON.  217 

that  subject  each  state  must  decide  for  itself.  I  speak  only  of  the 
restrictions  -which  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
have  imposed  upon  the  states." 

In  the  same  opinion,  on  page  578,  Chief-Justice 
Taney,  speaking  for  the  court,  says: 

u  The  power  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  several  states  is 
granted  to  Congress  in  the  same  clause  and  by  the  same  words  as 
the  power  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  is  co- 
extensive therewith;  and  according  to  the  doctrine  in  Brown  vs. 
Maryland,  the  article  in  question  at  the  time  of  the  sale  was  sub- 
ject to  the  regulation  of  Congress.  The  present  case  differs  from 
Brown  vs.  Maryland  in  this :  that  the  former  was  one  arising  out  of 
commerce  with  foreign  nations.  The  several  states  have  undoubt- 
edly conferred  upon  Congress  this  power,  yet  in  my  judgment,  the 
Btate  may,  nevertheless,  for  the  safety  or  convenience  of  trade,  or 
for  the  health  or  protection  of  its  citizens,  make  regulations  of 
commerce  for  its  own  ports  and  harbors  and  for  its  own  territory, 
and  such  regulations  are  valid  unless  they  come  in  conflict  with  the 
law  of  Congress.  Such  evidently, 'I  think,  was  the  construction 
which  the  constitution  universally  received  at  the  time  of  its 
adoption,  as  appears  from  the  legislation  of  Congress  and  the 
several  states;  and  a  careful  examination  of  the  decisions  of  thia 
court  will  show  that  so  far  from  sanctioning  an  opposite  doctrine 
they  recognize  and  maintain  the  power  of  the  states.  Neither  can 
it  be  inferred  by  comparing  the  provisions  upon  this  subject  with 
those  that  relate  to  other  powers  granted  by  the  constitution  to  the 
general  government.  On  the  contrary,  in  many  instances  after 
the  grant  is  made,  the  constitution  proceeds  to  prohibit  the  exer- 
cise of  the  same  power  by  the  state  in  express  terms,  and  in  some 
cases  absolutely  (in  others  with  the  consent  of  Congress) ;  for  if  the 
mere  grant  of  power  to  the  general  government  was  in  itself  a 
prohibition  to  the  states,  there  would  seem  to  be  no  necessity  for 
providing  for  the  supremacy  of  the  laws  of  Congress,  as  all  laws 
upon  the  subject  would  be  ipso  facto;  and  there  could,  therefore, 
be  no  such  thing  as  conflicting  laws  nor  any  question  about  the 
supremacy  of  conflicting  laws.  It  is  only  where  both  may  legis- 
late upon  the  subject  that  the  question  can  arise." 

But  no  question  of  conflict  of  law  touching  the 

15 


218  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

power  of  Congress  to  regulate  commerce  between 
the  states  arises  on  the  proposed  amendment,  and  I 
have  only  alluded  to  it  for  the  purpose  of  anticipating 
what  might  be  pretended  by  those  who  undertake 
the  defense  of  a  bad  cause.  Again,  Chief -Justice 
Cooley  in  his  work  on  "Constitutional  Limitations," 
revised  in  1873,  since  the  adoption  of  the  fourteenth 
amendment,  at  727  top  paging,  582  side  paging, 
says : 

44  It  would  seem  by  the  views  expressed  by  several  members  of 
the  court  in  these  cases,  that  the  state  laws  known  as  prohibitory 
liquor  laws,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  prevent  altogether  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage,  so  far 
as  legislation  can  accomplish  that  object,  can  not  be  held  void  as 
in  conflict  with  the  power  of  Congress  to  regulate  commerce  and 
to  levy  imposts  and  duties.  And  in  several  cases  it  has  been  held 
that  the  fact  that  such  laws  may  tend  to  prevent,  or  may  absolutely 
preclude,  the  fulfillment  of  contracts  previously  made,  is  no  objec- 
tion to  their  validity.  (People  vs.  Hawley,  S.  Mich.,  330;  Reynolds 
vs.  Geary,  26  Conn.,  179.)  And  it  is  no  objection  to  their  validity 
that  they  depreciate  the  value  or  destroy  the  value  of  property 
because  they  are  police  regulations. 

"  Any  change  in  the  police  laws,  or,  indeed,  in  any  other  laws, 
might  have  a  like  consequence.  The  same  laws  have  also  been 
sustained  when  the  questions  of  conflict,  of  state  constitutions  or 
with  general  fundamental  principles  has  been  raised.  They  are 
looked  upon  as  police  regulations  established  by  the  legislature 
for  the  prevention  of  intemperance,  pauperism  and  crime,  and 
for  the  abatement  of  nuisances." 

I  have  a  page  of  cases  that  support  these  posi- 
tions, but  I  will  not  worry  you  with  reading  them, 
and  will  content  myself  with  giving  the  references 
so  that  any  gentleman  who  wishes  can  read  them  at 
his  leisure.  They  are  as  follows: 


SPEECH   BY    OLIVER   P.    MASON.  219 

Commonwealth  vs.  Kendall,  12  Gush.,  414. 
Commonwealth  vs.  Clapp,  5  Gray,  97. 
Commonwealth  vs.  Howe,  13  Gray,  76. 
Santo  vs.  State,  2  Iowa,  202. 
One  House  vs.  State,  4  Greene,  Iowa,  172. 
Zumhoff  vs.  State,  4  Greene,  Iowa,  526. 
State  -us.  Donehey,  8  Iowa,  396. 
State  vs.  Wheeler,  25  Conn.,  290. 
Reynolds  vs.  Geary,  26  Conn.,  179. 
Oviatt  vs.  Pond,  29  Conn.,  479. 
People  vs.  Hawley,  3  Mich.,  330. 
People  vs.  Gallagher,  4  Mich.,  244. 
Jones  vs.  People,  14  111.,  196. 
State  vs.  Prescott,  27  Vt.,  194. 
Lincoln  vs.  Smith,  27  Vt.,  328. 
Gill  vs.  Smith,  27  Vt.,  328. 
Gill  vs.  Parker,  3  Vt.,  610. 

It  has  been  held  competent  to  declare  the  liquor 
kept  for  sale  a  nuisance,  and  to  provide  legal  process 
for  its  condemnation  and  destruction,  and  to  seize 
and  condemn  the  building  occupied  as  a  dramshop 
on  the  same  ground. 

One  House  vs.  State,  4  Greene,  Iowa,  172. 

Lincoln  vs.  Smith,  27  Vt.,  328. 

State  vs.  Eobinson,  33  Maine,  568. 

License  Cases,  5  Howard,  589. 

"  And  it  is  only  where  in  framing  such  legislation,  care  has  not 
been  taken  to  observe  those  principles  of  protection  which  sur- 
round the  persons  and  dwellings  of  individuals,  securing  them 
against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  and  giving  them  a 
right  to  trial  before  condemnation,  that  the  courts  have  felt  at 
liberty  to  declare  that  it  exceeded  the  proper  province  of  police 
regulation  so  as  to  destroy  the  value  of  property  without  com- 
pensation to  the  owner,  appears  in  a  more  striking  light  than  in 
the  case  of  these  statutes.  The  trade  in  alcoholic  drinks  being 
lawful,  and  the  capital  employed  in  it  being  fully  protected  by 
law,  the  legislature  then  steps  in,  and  by  an  enactment  based  on 


22Q  ARGUMENTS   ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

general  reasons  of  public  utility,  annihilates  the  traffic,  destroys 
altogether  the  employment,  and  reduces  to  a  nominal  value  the 
property  on  hand  ;  even  the  keeping  of  that  for  the  purpose  of 
sale  becomes  a  criminal  offense,  and  without  any  change  whatever 
in  his  own  conduct  or  employment,  the  merchant  of  yesterday 
becomes  the  criminal  of  to-day,  and  the  very  building  in  which 
he  lives  and  conducts  the  business  which  to  that  moment  was  law- 
ful, becomes  the  subject  of  legal  proceedings,  if  the  statute  shall 
so  declare,  and  liable  to  be  proceeded  against  for  a  forfeiture.  A 
statute  which  can  do  this  must  be  justified  upon  the  highest 
reasons  of  public  benefit,  but  whether  satisfactorily  or  not,  the 
reasons  address  themselves  exclusively  to  the  legislative  wisdom." 

With  these  reasons  the  court  has  nothing  to  do. 
How  about  indemnity'?  Will  somebody  insist  on 
indemnification  ? 

Again,  it  was  holdeii  in  the  case  of  Watertown 
vs.  Mayo,  109  Mass.,  3,  315, 12  Am.,  694,  under  the 
head  of  constitutional  law,  restraining  the  police 
power  over  nuisances  in  cities  and  towns,  that  all 
rights  to  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  property  secured 
by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  or  of  this 
commonwealth  are  subject  to  regulation  under  that 
power  known  as  the  police  power  of  the  state,  which 
like  the  power  of  taxation,  is  necessary  to  its  exist- 
ence, and  which  is  implied  in  the  idea  of  free  civil 
government.  It  is  defined  by  Blackstone  to  be  that 
power  which  concerns  the  due  regulation  and  domes- 
tic order  of  the  kingdom,  whereby  the  individuals  of 
a  state — like  the  members  of  a  well-governed  family 
— are  bound  to  conform  their  general  behavior  to  the 
rules  of  propriety,  good  neighborhood  and  good  man- 
ners, and  to  be  decent,  industrious,  and  inoffensive 
in  their  respective  stations.  (4  Black.  Com.,  162. } 


SPEECH    BY   OLIVER    P.    MASON.  22l 

It  has  its  foundation  in  that  maxim  of  well- 
ordered  society  which  requires  every  one  to  use  his 
own,  so  as  not  to  injure  the  equal  enjoyment  of 
others  having  equal  rights  of  property.  Laws 
passed  in  the  legitimate  exercise  of  this  power  are 
not  obnoxious  to  constitutional  provisions,  although 
in  some  measure  interfering  with  private  rights, 
merely  because  they  do  not  provide  compensation  to 
the  individual  whose  labor  is  restrained;  he  is  pre- 
sumed to  be  rewarded  by  the  common  benefit  secured. 

Now  I  understand  somebody  cites  that  section  of 
the  constitution  which  says,  "  private  property  shall 
not  be  taken  for  public  use,  except  on  just  compensa- 
tion,11 then  as  to  the  right  of  eminent  domain.  Now 
this  judge  treats  of  this  distinctly,  so  also  does  Black- 
stone.  This  police  power  rests  on  the  same  basis  as 
taxation,  and  the  right  of  eminent  domain  has 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  In  the  one  case  the  citizen's 
tax  is  for  the  protection  of  law;  in  the  case  of  police 
regulation,  "he  is  supposed  to  be  fully  compensated 
in  the  suppression  of  pauperism  and  crime." 

It  differs  from  the  right  of  eminent  domain  which 
involves  the  appropriation  of  private  property  to  pub- 
lic use,  and  requires  in  lawful  exercise  pecuniary 
compensation  for  the  loss  inflicted,  and  it  has  been 
repeatedly  recognized  and  variously  applied  in  the 
decisions  of  this  court  (Commonwealth  vs.  Tewkes- 
berry,  11  Metcalf,  55;  Baker  vs.  Boston,  12  Picker- 
ing, 184;  Vandwyne,  petitioner,  6  Pickering,  184). 

To  a  great  extent  the  legislature  is  the  proper 


222  ABGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

judge  of  the  necessity  of  the  exercise  of  this  re- 
straining power.  The  law  most  wisely  interferes  for 
the  protection  of  the  public  by  preventing  in  advance 
threatened  and  probable  injury. 

In  every  state  where  a  local  option  law  has  been 
declared  unconstitutional,  the  courts  have  put  it  upon 
the  ground  that  the  law  was  void  as  being  a  delega- 
tion of  the  legislative  power  to  the  people,  and  not 
because  the  law  invaded  property  rights.  See  the 
case  of  Fell  vs.  State,  42  Md.,  71,  reported  in  20 
Am.,  83. 

As  to  the  power  of  the  people  to  restrain  the  sale 
of  intoxicating  liquors  in  the  state,  see  30  Mich., 
401;  Dewar  vs.  People:  reported  in  29  Am.,  545. 
This  is  a  peculiar  case.  When  the  charter  of  the 
city  of  Ludington  was  granted,  the  constitution  of 
Michigan  provided  that  "the  legislature  shall  not 
pass  any  act  authorizing  a  license  for  the  sale  of 
ardent  spirits  or  other  intoxicating  liquors."  The 
charter  empowered  the  common  council  among  other 
things  to  license  and  regulate  saloons,  restaurants, 
and  billiard-rooms,  or  prohibit  them.  The  consti- 
tutional prohibition  against  license  was  stricken  from 
the  constitution  by  a  vote  of  the  people- taken  in 
1876.  Held  that  aftor  the  constitution  had  been 
thus  amended,  the  common  council  of  Ludington 
had  no  power  to  grant  licenses  to  sell  intoxicating 
liquors. 

I  desiro  to  cite  a  little  more  legal  authority,  and 
as  I  said  before,  it  is  a  dry  task  to  discuss  legal 


SPEECH    BY    OLIVER    P.    MASON.  223 

propositions  before  a  mixed  audience,  but  perhaps 
the  great  public  interest  involved  may  excuse  me. 

In  the  case  of  the  State,  Sanford,  relator,  vs.  The 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  the  County  of  Morris, 
36  New  Jersey,  7  Broom,  72;  decided  at  the  No- 
vember term,  A.D.  1872;  13  American  Reports,  p. 
523,  under  the  title  of  Constitutional  Law,  Local 
Option,  it  was  held  that  the  Chatham  local  option 
law,  declaring  the  retailing  of  ardent  spirits  without 
license  to  be  unlawful,  and  providing  tliat  no  license 
shall  be  granted  if  a  majority  vote  of  the  township 
is  for  no  license.  Held  that  the  act  is  constitu- 
tional. Held  further  that  the  legislature  under  the 
power  to  make  police  regulations  may  prohibit  the 
sale  of  alcoholic  stimulants.  Held  further,  that 
municipal  corporations  and  townships  may  be  in- 
vested with  authority  to  regulate  or  prohibit  the 
retail  of  intoxicating  drinks. 

Now  the  question  I  wish  to  put  to  the  people  and 
to  the  legislature  is  this :  If  a  county  or  township 
may  deny  the  right  to  retail  alcoholic  stimulants, 
can  not  the  majesty  of  the  whole  state; — the  people 
in  their  sovereign  capacity,  do  it?  Is  not  the  whole 
power  equal  to  all  its  parts,  and  greater  than  any 
one  of  its  parts? 

Yan  Syckles,  Justice,  said: 

".While  alcoholio  stimulants  are  recognized  as  property  and  en- 
titled to  the  protection  of  the  law,  ownership  in  them  is  subject 
to  such  restrictions  as  are  demanded  by  the  highest  considerations 
of  the  public  expediency.  Such  enactments  are  regarded  a~< 
police  regulations,  established  for  the  prevention  of  crime  and 


224  ARGUMENTS    ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

pauperism,  for  the  abatement  of  nuisances  and  the  protection  of 
public  health  and  safety.  They  are  a  just  restraint  of  an  injurious 
use  of  property,  which  the  legislature  has  the  authority  to  impose, 
and  the  extent  to  which  such  interference  may  be  carried  must 
rest  exclusively  in  legislative  wisdom,  when  it  is  not  controlled  by 
a  fundamental  law." 

How  is  that?  And  the  person  injured  has  no 
claim  for  damages? 

It  is  a  settled  principle,  essential  to  the  right  of 
self-preservation  in  every  well-organized  community, 
that  however 'absolute  may  be  the  right  of  the  owner 
to  his  property,  he  holds  it  under  the  implied  con- 
dition that  its  use  shall  not  work  injury  to  the  equal 
enjoyment  and  safety  of  others,  who  have  an  equal 
right  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  property,  nor  be 
injurious  to  the  community. 

Bights  of  property  are  subject  to  such  limitations 
as  are  demanded  by  the  common  welfare  of  society, 
and  it  is  within  the  scope  of  legislative  action  to  say 
what  shall  be  expedient.  If,  therefore,  the  legisla- 
ture shall  consider  the  retailing  of  ardent  spirits 
injurious  to  citizens  or  productive  of  idleness  and 
vice,  it  may  provide  for  its  total  suppression.  Such 
inhibition  is  justified  only  as  a  police  regulation, 
and  its  legality  has  been  recognized  in  well-consid- 
ered  cases.  It  is  neither  in  conflict  with  the  power 
of  Congress  over  subjects  within  its  exclusive  juris- 
diction, nor  with  any  provisions  of  our  state  consti- 
tution, nor  with  general  fundamental  principles. 
(Cooley  on  Constitutional  Limitations,  p.  583,  and 
cases  there  referred  to.  Thurlow  vs.  Mass.,  5  How- 


SPEECH   BY    OLIVER    P.    MASON.  225 

ard,  505. )  It  is  not  necessary  to  amplify  discussion 
on  this  point,  or  to  review  the  cases  in  detail.  The 
view  here  taken  underlies  the  whole  subject  of  police 
regulations,  and  can  not  logically  be  narrowed  in 
extent.  An  examination  of  the  cases  will  show  that 
some  laws  of  this  character  have  failed  to  secure  the 
approval  of  the  courts,  because  they  invaded  the 
rights  of  the  citizens  to  be  secure  against  unreason- 
able searches,  or  denied  to  him  a  fair  trial  before 
condemnation  of  his  property. 

Some  of  the  cases  cited  were  decided  before  the 
adoption  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  of  the  federal 
constitution,  some  since. 

Let  us  now  consider  to  what  extent  the  fourteenth 
amendment  affects  the  question,  if  any ;  or  in  other 
words,  would  this  proposed  constitutional  amend- 
ment if  adopted  be  in  violation  of  the  fourteenth 
amendment  to  the  federal  constitution  ? 

That  amendment  ordains  that  "all  persons  born 
or  naturalized  in  the  United  States  and  subject  to 
the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  state  where  they  reside.  No  state 
shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge 
the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States;  nor  shall  any  state  deprive  any  person  of 
life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process  of  law, 
nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  equal 
protection  of  its  laws." 

Now  let  us  see  who  follow  this  provision  of  the 
constitution,  whether  it  be  prohibitionists  or  the 
advocates  of  the  liquor  traffic. 


226  ARGUMENTS    ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

So  far  as  this  proposed  constitutional  amendment 
deals  with  the  mere  question  of  regulating  this  traffic, 
or  even  its  total  prohibition  as  it  may  have  been 
effected  in  the  federal  constitution  prior  to  the  adop  - 
tion  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  of  that  instru- 
ment, the  decision  of  the  court  in  Bartmeyer  vs. 
Iowa  settles  that.  Up  to  that  time  it  had  been 
considered,  says  Chief -Justice  Miller,  as  falling 
within  the  police  regulations  of  the  states,  left  to 
their  judgment  and  subject  to  no  .other  limitations 
than  such  as  are  imposed  by  the  state  constitution, 
or  by  general  principles  supposed  to  limit  all  legis- 
lative power.  It  has  never  been  seriously  contended 
that  such  laws — i.  e.,  prohibitory  laws — raised  any 
question  growing  out  of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States.  The  power  to  prohibit  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  alcoholic  drinks  belongs  to  the  police 
power  of  the  state  or  the  people,  as  we  have  shown 
by  the  opinions  and  cases  hereinbefore  cited,  and 
no  one  has  ever  pretended,  that  I  am  aware  of,  that 
the  fourteenth  amendment  interferes  with  the  police 
power  of  the  state.  Certainly  no  one  who  intends 
to  give  to  that  amendment  its  legitimate  operation 
has  ever  assumed  for  it  such  effect.  It  was  not 
adopted  for  any  such  purpose.  This  constitutional 
amendment  was  not  designed  or  intended  to  limit, 
and  it  did  not  limit  the  power  of  the  state  over  its 
own  internal  police  regulations. 

"  No  state  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which 
shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  the 


SPEECH  BY  .OLIVER  P.  MASON.        22 'i 

citizens  of  the  United  States."  Many  are  the  poor, 
squalid,  wretched  families;  mothers  hungry,  care- 
worn, and  pallid,  children  fainting  and  calling  for 
bread,  mingling  their  moans  with  the  dismal  night 
winds,  and  their  tears  with  the  drifting  snow,  that 
point  to  that  constitutional  guaranty,  and  with  eyes 
turning  toward  the  capital  of  the  state  with  beseech- 
ing look  and  agonized  cry,  say,  Why  did  you  strip 
me  of  clothing  and  take  away  my  bread  ?  Why  did 
you  commission  and  license  the  dramshop  to  poison 
my  father,  the  protector  of  my  mother,  to  drive  him 
crazy  and  mad,  and  make  him  a  felon  and  a  criminal  ? 
Why  did  you  deprive  our  baby,  who  died  but  yes- 
terday, of  life,  and-our  whole  family  of  the  pursuit 
of  happiness?  I  think  I  hear  the  stilted  answer 
from  the  statesmen  of  the  capital,  "to  secure  the 
guarantees  of  private  property."  The  lisping  child 
answers  back,  Why,  oh  why,  did  you  not  license  and 
commission  that  man  with  a  gun  to  shoot  my  father 
and  kill  the  babe,  it  would  have  saved  us  so  xnuch 
anguish  ?  The  statesman  responds :  We  had  no  legal 
right  to  authorize'  your  neighbor  with  the  gun,  to  use 
it  so  as  to  injure  your  father  or  the  babe.  And  the 
child  responds :  Then  please  prevent  that  saloon  man 
from  using  his  whisky,  his  rum,  gin,  and  brandy  so 
as  to  injure  my  father  and  our  home,  and  then  I  will 
know  what  these  letters  mean  to  which  my  finger 
points.  ^The  child  of  the  drunkard's  home  can  in- 
terpret this  provision  of  the  constitution  with  a  voice 
so  eloquent  as  to  invoke  responsive  accents  from  the 


228  ARGUMENTS    ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

spirits  of  the  departed  dead,  and  approval  from  the 
champions  of  the  law. 

But  to  return  to  the  prosy  argument  of  the  legal 
proposition.  This  amendment  secures  to  the  citizen 
the  rights,  and  all  the  rights  which  he  enjoyed  at  the 
date  of  its  ratification.  He  held  his  rights  of  prop- 
erty in  alcoholic  drinks,  and  the  right  to  manufacture 
the  same,  subject  to  all  needed  police  regulations, 
and  subject  to  the  further  condition,  to  so  use  his  own 
as  not  to  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  others,  and 
whenever  the  people  in  their  primary  and  constitu- 
tion-making capacity  decide  that  the  manufacture, 
sale,  or  use  of  alcohol  endangers  civil  society,  is  a 
nuisance  or  evil,  and  promotes  pauperism  and  crime, 
they  may  prohibit  the  manufacture  and  sale  and  use 
of  the  same,  although  it  may  depreciate  the  value  of 
distilleries  and  alcoholic  liquors,  and  in  such  case 
they  have  no  claim  for  damages  occasioned  by  such 
depreciation.  When  the  laws  against  dueling  were 
enacted,  and  some  of  the  states  have  quite  recently 
put  upon  the  statute  books  laws  prohibiting  dueling, 
I  am  surprised  that  some  constitutional  expounder  of 
the  law  did  not  discover  that  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment had  been  violated,  because  the  sale  of  dueling 
pistols  was  dispensed  with,  and  their  value  was  de- 
creased. "Will  not  some  just-minded  legislator 
move  an  amendment  that  the  state  make  remuneration 
in  that  behalf? 

But  again,  the  burglar  uses  valuable  tools  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  trade,  and  when  his  occupation  is 


SPEECH   BY    OLIVER   P.    MASON.  229 

destroyed,  utterly  annihilated,  the  value  of  his  tools 
is  depreciated.  Will  not  some  gentleman  from  some 
county  move  an  amendment,  and  provide  compensa- 
tion for  the  loss  on  tools  ?  And  again,  in  1794  the 
American  Congress  laid '  an  embargo  for  sixty  days 
upon  all  vessels  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States, 
when  we  were  at  peace  with  all  the  world.  Will  not 
some  gentleman  move  an  amendment  to  compensate 
New  England  for  loss  on  shipping? 

Again,  the  embargo  most  famous  in  American 
history  was  that  intended  to  countervail  Napoleon's 
Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  and  the  British  orders  in 
council.  Dec.  22,  1807,  on  the  recommendation  of 
President  Jefferson,  a  law  was  enacted  by  Congress 
prohibiting  the  departure  from  ports  of  the  United 
States,  of  all  but  foreign  armed  vessels,  with  public 
commissions,  or  foreign  merchant  ships  in  ballast, 
or  with  such  cargo  as  they  have  on  board  when  noti- 
fied of  the  act.  All  American  vessels  engaged  in 
the  coasting  trade  were  required  to  give  heavy 
bonds  to  land  their  cargoes  in  the  United  States. 
This  embargo  was  repealed  by  an  act  passed  Febru- 
ary 27,  1809,  and  taking  effect  March  15,  1809,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  related  to  France  and  Great  Britain 
and,  their  dependencies,  and  to  them  also  it  was  to 
take  effect  after  the  next  succeeding  session  of  Con- 
gress. This  embargo  was  in  full  force  for  more 
than  three  years ;  the  injury  done  and  tho  loss  sus- 
tained by  ship-owners,  by  reason  of  this  police 
regulation,  is  variously  estimated  at  from  ten  to 


230  ABGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL    POINTS. 

twenty-five  millions  of  dollars.  It  is  now  in  order 
for  some  statesman  to  move  to  amend  by  providing 
for  the  payment  of  the  loss.  The  great  constitu- 
tional lawyers  of  the  past  discussed  this  question. 
The  statesmen  in  Congress  considered  it;  Madison 
thought  of  it ;  Jefferson  reflected  on  it ;  great  men 
of  that  day  wrote  upon  it,  but  nobody  thought  the 
ship-owners  had  a  claim  for  indemnity,  because  it 
was  a  national  police  regulation.  But  the  world 
moves.  Things  change  when  the  statesmen  of  the 
day  struggle  in  the  interest  of  spiritualized  alcohol. 
"Well,  thank  God  for  the  progress.  The  world 
moves.  The  sunlight  of  progress  has  illuminated 
the  bleak  mountain  tops  upon  which  the  people 
dwell,  and  it  will  not  be  long  before  it  will  spread  its 
sheen  of  glory  over  the  dark  valleys  below,  and  light 
the  legislator  so  he  shall  grant  the  request  of  the 
weak  and  fallen,  and  remove  the  temptation  of  the 
saloon  from  their  sight. 

I  have  always  thought  the  best  part  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  was  "lead  us  not  into  temptation,  and  deliver 
us  from  evil."  Believing  this,  I  do  not  want  to  tempt 
anybody  by  keeping  a  saloon.  If  you  would  be  free 
from  evil,  fly  temptation.  He  who  would  and  does 
not  endeavor  to  avoid  the  one,  can  not  expect  pro- 
tection from  the  other.  If  the  first  spark  were 
quenched  there  would  be  no  flame.  He  can  not  kill, 
rob,  embezzle,  or  steal  who  does  not  first  transgress 
in  thought.  He  cannot  defraud  who  does  not  allow 
himself  to  covet.  He  will  not  drink  who  does  not 


SPEECH   BY    OLIVER    P.    MASON.  231 

desire.  Use  the  dram-shop  as  it  will  use  you.  Spare 
it  not,  for  it  will  not  spare  you.  It  has  murdered, 
and  it  will  murder  more.  Use  it,  therefore,  as  a 
murderer  should  be  used ;  kill  it  before  it  kills  you ; 
kill  it  before  it  kills  your  soul.  If  the  thought  of 
death  and  the  grave,  if  dishonor  and  disgrace  be  not 
pleasant  to  you,  hearken  not  to  the  voice  of  those  who 
would  longer  continue  the  American  licensed  saloon 
as  an  instrument  of  civilization  and  a  supporter  of 
common  schools.  Blot  out  the  saloons  of  this  state. 
It  will  put  wood  and  coal  on  the  fire,  meat  in  the  barrel, 
and  flour  in  the  chest,  money  in  the  pocket,  and 
credit  in  the  community;  contentment  in  the  house, 
clothes  on  the  children,  vigor  in  the  body,  intelli- 
gence in  the  brain,  and  spirit  in  the  whole  social 
circle  in  many  hundred  families  of  this  state. 

You  violate  no  right  of  property,  no  constitutional 
provision.  The  proposed  constitutional  amendment 
does  not  deprive  persons  of  their  property  without 
due  process  of  law.  It  simply  requires  citizens  to 
so  use  their  property  as  not  to  endanger  the  public 
peace  and  promote  pauperism  and  crime.  It  does 
not  violate  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  federal 
constitution.  When  made  a  part  of  the  constitution 
by  the  vote  of  the  people  of  this  state,  it  could  not 
be  inconsistent  with  that  constitution,  and  the  claim 
that  it  would  be  so,  must  be  mere  pretense. 


II. 

LOYALTY  TO  LAW. 


ADDRESS    OF    HON.  ALBERT    H.  HORTON,  CHIEF-JUSTICE 

OF   KANSAS,    AT    EFFINGHAM,    ATCHISON 

COUNTY,  SEPT.  18,  1881. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  —  I  came  here  to-day 
upon  the  invitation  of  your  citizens  to  pay  my  respects 
to  the  distinguished  governor  of  our  state  upon  his 
visit  to  my  own  county ;  to  evidence  by  my  presence 
among  you  that  I  sympathize  with  your  efforts  to 
create  a  public  sentiment  favoring  the  enforcement 
of  all  the  laws  of  our  commonwealth,  and  to  counsel 
with  you,  as  friends  and  neighbors,  over  the  best 
methods  to  accomplish  in  our  own  midst  this  desir- 
able result.  Knowing,  however,  that  I  would  be 
expected  to  make  some  remarks  upon  this  occasion, 
I  have  thought  it  best  to  prepare  what  I  have  to  say, 
so  that  I  may  not  be  misrepresented  or  misreported. 
Owing  to  the  judicial  position  I  hold,  and  the  rela- 
tion I  bear  to  the  entire  people  of  the  state,  I  can- 
not afford  to  have  myself  misunderstood.  The  pro- 
prieties of  this  forbid  me  that  scope  of  discussion 
allowable  to  the  other  speakers  who  are  here  to 

233 


SPEECH   BY    ALBERT    H.    HORTON.  233 

address  you.  I  do  not  propose  to  offend  those 
proprieties.  All,  therefore,  that  I  shall  say  will 
be  devoted  to  the  importance  and  necessity  of  our 
citizens  obeying  the  laws  of  the  state. 

There  have^  been  many  interpretations  attempted 
to  be  given  of  municipal  law,  yet  one  that  is  as  com- 
plete and  comprehensive  as  any  other,  defines  it  "  A 
rule  of  civil  conduct  prescribed  by  the  supreme 
power  in  a  state."  In  a  republic  like  ours,  the  right 
of  making  all  the  laws  resides  in  the  people,  and  the 
rule  of  the  majority,  when  not  in  conflict  with 
the  constitution  of  the  state,  or  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States,  must  control.  As  long  as  we  are 
members  of  such  a  government  as  the  one  under 
which  we  live,  we  are  to  regulate  our  own  public 
conduct  by  the  order  or  will  of  the  majority,  so 
long  as  the  will  of  the  majority  is  legally  expressed. 
Every  person  who  is  a  member  of  a  government 
like  ours,  gives  up  a  part  of  his  natural  liberty  as 
the  price  of  such  membership,  and  in  consideration 
of  receiving  the  advantages  and  protection  of  the 
government,  pledges  himself  to  conform  to  those 
laws  which  the  government  has  thought  proper  to 
establish. 

The  government  under  which  we  live  is  so  con- 
structed that  disobedience  to  its  orders  or  mandates 
can  never  be  justifiable.  It  not  only  springs  from 
the  people,  but  refers  back  all  its  powers  to  them 
at  so  frequent  intervals,  that  it  can  never  misrepre- 
sent them  or  thwart  their  wishes,  so  as  to  make 

16 


234:  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

violation  or  disobedience  of  law  under  any  circum- 
stances proper.  Every  two  years  we  can  change  the 
whole  house  of  representatives  of  our  legislature; 
every  four  years  we  can  change  the  entire  senate  of 
our  state,  and  every  two  years  we  can  elect  an  entire 
new  set  of  executive  state  officials. 

More  than  this,  if  any  provision  of  our  constitu- 
tion requires  addition,  modification  or  repeal,  we  can 
by  a  vote  of  the  people  under  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions provided  for  in  our  constitution,  make  such 
additions,  modifications  or  repeal  as  the  people  of  the 
state  shall  demand.  It  therefore  becomes  our  duty 
as  citizens  loyal  to  our  state,  loyal  to  the  communities 
in  which  we  live,  and  loyal  to  ourselves,  to  keep  in 
remembrance  the  character  of  our  government,  the 
relation  we  occupy  towards  it,  and  to  yield  complete 
obedience  to  our  constitution  and  the  laws ;  to  respect 
the  authority  that  attempts  to  uphold  the  constitution 
and  enforce  the  laws,  adopted  in  accordance  with  its 
terms.  There  is  no  clear  pathway  to  tread  in  these 
matters  except  to  follow  the  one  which  is  lighted  by 
the  constitution,  and  leads  up  to  the  enforcement  of 
the  laws. 

In  brief,  obedience  to  the  law  is  the  duty  of  the 
citizen.  There  are  ample  opportunities  to  correct, 
change  and  repeal  all  existing  laws  without  violence 
or  force;  and  the  people  have  the  right  by  legiti- 
mate methods,  and  within  the  provisions  of  the 
constitution,  to  seek  for  any  correction,  change,  modi- 
fication or  repeal  of  any  law  they  deem  unwise, 


SPEECH    BY    ALBERT    H.    HORTON.  235 

severe  or  injurious  in  its  operation,  but  this  authority 
gives  no  citizen  the  right  to  violate  the  existing  law, 
or  disobey  its  mandate.  In  obedience  to  law,  in  a 
government  like  ours,  deriving  its  powers  from  the 
people,  rests  the  only  security  we  have  for  life,  liberty 
and  property.  It  is  the  law  that  protects  your  crops 
in  the  fields;  that  guards  your  cattle  feeding  upon 
the  hills  and  in  the  meadows ;  that  secures  the  shop, 
the  store  and  the  bank  from  midnight  spoliation ;  that 
renders  safe  the  home,  the  family  and  all  you  value 
as  near  and  dear  to  you.  It  is  the  law  that  protects 
the  citizens  from  assault,  that  guards  your  treasures 
from  the  thief  and  the  robber,  that  secures  you  all 
your  rights  of  person  and  property,  and  throws 
around  all  of  us  its  ample  and  protecting  shield.  It 
protects  you  as  you  meet  here  this  pleasant  autumnal 
morning,  in  absolute  peace,  and  permits  you  to  con- 
sult together  here  over  matters  of  supreme  import- 
ance to  yourselves  as  individuals,  to  your  county  and 
your  state,  without  disturbance  from  the  turbulent, 
or  violence  from  the  lawless.  It  is,  in  fact,  our 
sentry  by  day  and  our  watch  by  night.  Without  law, 
anarchy  and  confusion  would  reign  supreme.  Might 
would  be  the  only  controlling  power,  and  rights  of 
person  and  property  would  be  respected  only  so 
long  as  they  had  immediate  force  at  hand  to  com- 
mand protection.  Disobedience  to  law  tends  first  to 
anarchy  and  then  to  tyranny,  as  any  government  is 
better  than  none  at  all. 

We  mistake,  when  we  say,  the  law  controls  or 


236  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

limits  our  liberty,  controls  or  limits  our  freedom. 
In  fact,  the  law  which  restrains  a  person  from  doing 
mischief  or  wrong  to  another,  though  it  diminishes 
the  natural,  increases  the  civil  liberty  of  mankind. 
When  there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  freedom.  A  con- 
tinued disobedience  of  law  furnishes  a  strong  argu- 
ment for  the  overthrow  of  our  form  of  government, 
and  threatens  to  establish  a  sentiment  in  favor  of  a 
monarchy.  The  disobedience  of  law  favors,  in  the 
end,  the  rule  of  the  despot  upheld  by  the  cartridge- 
box,  in  preference  to  a  government  for  the  people 
and  by  the  people,  sustained  by  the  ballot-box. 

It  has  often  been  charged  by  the  enemies  of  a  free 
government  deriving  its  powers  from  the  consent  of 
the  governed,  that  while  public  virtue  or  goodness 
of  intention  is  more  likely  to  be  favored  in  this, 
than  in  other  of  the  classes  of  governments,  it  is  too 
weak  to  carry  into  force  the  execution  of  laws,  and 
therefore,  has  no  permanent  basis  upon  which  to  rest. 
All  opposition  in  this  country  to  civil  power,  all 
defiance  of  the  laws  and  disobedience  to  the  consti- 
tuted rulers,  tends  to  support  this  accusation.  These 
truths  are  so  fundamental  and  self-evident,  that  all 
must  concede  them  to  be  correct,  and  yet,  unfortu- 
nately, countenance  is  often  given  to  the  enemies  of 
free  government  by  our  own  citizens  by  their  oppo- 
sition to  legal  enactments. 

There  are  laws  adopted  by  our  state  according  to 
the  usual  and  ordinary  methods  of  legislation,  that 
are  openly  violated  and  disobeyed,  in  a  few  of  the 


SPEECH   BY   ALBERT    H.    HORTON.  237 

larger  cities  and  towns  of  the  state,  and  it  is 
defiantly  proclaimed  that  the  state  is  too  weak  to 
execute  these  laws,  and  that  there  are  no  sufficient 
means  to  carry  them  into  execution.  Among  the 
laws  now  vehemently  opposed  in  some  of  the  counties 
of  the  state  is  the  one  recently  passed  at  the  late 
session  of  our  legislature,  the  intent  and  purpose 
of  which  is  to  abolish  the  dramshop,  close  the  bar  of 
the  hotel,  and  banish  intoxicating  liquors  from  the 
corner  grocery.  All  its  restrictions  are  intended  to 
effectuate  this  object.  It  seeks  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage;  and  to 
more  successfully  accomplish  this,  it  limits  the 
sale  thereof  to  medical,  scientific,  and  mechanical 
purposes. 

As  an  apology  for  the  violation  of  this  law  in  some 
sections  of  the  state,  it  is  urged  that  it  was  enacted 
without  regard  to  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  people, 
and  that  no  law  of  this  character  can  be  enforced 
which  is  in  conflict  with  this  sentiment.  So  much 
has  been  written  and  uttered  upon  this  point,  that 
even  intelligent  and  respectable  citizens  are  confused 
with  the  argument. 

Let  us  examine  this  assertion  a  moment.  Before 
the  constitutional  amendment,  providing  for  the  pro- 
hibition of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage,  was  voted  upon  by  the  people  of  the  state, 
it  was  necessary  that  two  thirds  of  all  the  members 
elected  to  each  house  of  our  legislature  should  con- 
cur in  submitting  the  proposed  amendment  to  a  vote 


238  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

of  the  electors.  This  action  was  taken,  and  at  the 
session  of  our  legislature  held  in  1879,  every  mem- 
ber of  the  state  senate  present  upon  the  passage  of 
the  joint  resolution  relating  to  prohibition,  voted  in 
favor  of  its  submission.  The  vote  was  thirty-seven 
for  submission,  none  against.  Not  a  single  mem- 
ber of  the  senate  recorded  his  vote  in  opposition  to 
the  proposition.  In  the  house,  the  vote  was  eighty- 
eight  in  favor  of  the  submission,  and  thirty-two 
against.  Nearly  three  times  as  many  voted  in  the 
house  in  favor  of  the  submission,  as  the  number  that 
voted  against  the  submission.  The  resolution  for 
the  submission  of  the  question  of  constitutional  pro- 
hibition, although  adopted  in  March,  1879,  deferred 
the  vote  thereon  until  the  general  election  in 
November,  1880. 

Thus,  the  people  of  the  state  had  ample  time  and 
full  opportunity  to  discuss  among  'themselves  the 
amendment  submitted  for  adoption  or  rejection  at 
their  hands,  and  in  many  places  this  discussion  waa 
full  and  complete.  During  the  period  that  elapsed 
between  the  time  the  proposition  passed  the  legisla- 
ture and  the  day  of  the  popular  vote,  the  question 
was  the  all-absorbing  one  in  our .  state.  It  was  dis- 
cussed in  every  city,  town  and  hamlet,  and  at  almost 
every  public  meeting.  The  state  was  thoroughly 
canvassed  by  those  favoring  the  proposition,  and 
its  merits  and  demerits  presented  and  supported  by 
all  possible  arguments.  For  months,  pulpit,  press 
and  platform  were  full  of  it.  Joint  debates  were 


SPEECH   BY   ALBERT    H.    HORTON.  239 

had  in  public  upon  the  propriety  of  adopting  the 
amendment. 

After  all  of  this  debate  and  discussion,  at  the 
regular  election  of  1880,  92,302  votes  were  cast  in 
favor  of  ihe  amendment,  and  84,304  against  it.  The 
majority  in  favor  was  about  8,000.  There  were 
eighty  counties  in  the  state  in  which  elections  were 
held  upon  this  proposition.  Of  these  eighty,  fifty- 
three  counties  gave  majorities  for  the  amendment, 
and  only  twenty-seven  gave  majorities  against  the 
amendment.  Thus,  after  a  full  understanding  of  the 
proposition  before  them,  the  people  of  the  state  re- 
solved to  adopt  the  amendment  which  had  been  sub- 
mitted to  them  by  the  legislature  in  accordance  with 
the  forms  of  our  constitution.  Upon  its  adoption, 
it  became  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  state,  of 
equal  force  and  validity  with  any  other  article  or 
section  of  that  constitution.  Whether  any  citizen 
likes  or  dislikes  its  provisions,  if  he  is  a  faithful  and 
obedient  citizen,  he  is  bound  to  pay  to  it  the  same 
respect  as  he  gives  to  the  other  articles  and  sections 
of  the  constitution. 

To  attempt  to  evade  the  force  of  the  vote  in  favor 
of  the  adoption  of  the  amendment,  it  has  been  said 
that  some  twenty  thousand  electors  did  not  vote  at 
all  upon  the  proposition  submitted,  and  if  they  had 
cast  their  ballots  against  such  amendment,  it  would 
have  been  rejected.  Yet,  the  persons  who  make  this 
argument  fail  to  recollect  that  it  is  a  cardinal  rule  of 
construction  concerning  elections,  that  they  who  do 


240  AKGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

not  vote  are  considered  either  indifferent  to  the 
result,  or  as  favoring  the  proposition  submitted. 
Under  no  circumstances  are  their  votes  to  be  counted 
against  the  measure.  It  is  the  law  of  all  our  elections 
that  the  majority  of  the  votes  polled  is  controlling. 
Even  where  an  officer  is  elected  by  one  vote,  or  a 
proposition  is  carried  by  one  vote,  that  vote  controls. 

The  other  day  there  was  an  election  in  Lancaster 
township  for  the  issuing  of  bonds  to  the  Missouri 
Pacific  railway  company.  The  majority  was  over 
seventy  votes,  yet  if  the  majority  had  only  been  one 
vote,  the  proposition  would  have  been  legally  adopted. 
Therefore,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  vote  by 
which  the  amendment  was  submitted  to  the  people 
by  our  legislature  of  1879,  we  find  the  popular  sen- 
timent was  largely  in  favor  of  the  submission.  If 
we  take  into  consideration  the  vote  deposited  in  the 
ballot-box  upon  the  question  at  the  election  of  1880, 
we  ascertain  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  voters  of 
the  state  was  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the 
amendment. 

Let  us  go  further,  however,  and  examine  the 
proceedings  of  the  legislature  of  1881.  Even  if 
no  constitutional  amendment  had  been  previously 
adopted,  that  legislature,  according  to  the  decisions 
of  all  the  courts  of  the  country >  had  complete  au- 
thority to  adopt  laws  prohibiting  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  as  a  beverage.  This  has  been  decided 
time  and  again  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States,  the  final  arbiter  in  all  such  questions,  and 


SPEECH   BY   ALBERT    H.    HOBTON.  241 

never  has  a  single  judge  of  that  distinguished  court 
dissented  from  the  proposition.  Upon  the  adoption 
of  the  prohibition  law,  which  is  now  published  in 
our  statute  book,  the  vote  in  the  senate  was  thirty- 
two  for  it,  and  only  seven  against  it.  The  senators 
from  every  county  in  the  state,  present  when  the  bill 
was  adopted,  voted  for  its  passage,  except  the  sena- 
tors from  Leavenworth,  Atchison,  Doniphan,  Mar- 
shall and  Jefferson  counties.  Only  five  counties  in 
this  state  by  the  votes  of  their  senators  opposed  the 
enactment  of  this  law.  In  the  house  one  hundred 
members  voted  for  the  bill,  and  only  twenty-three 
against  it.  More  than  four  to  one  of  the  members 
of  the  house  favored  the  enactment  of  the  law.  The 
votes  in  the  house  against  the  bill  came  from  four- 
teen counties  only,  and  four  of  these  votes  were  from 
counties  that  gave  majorities  in  favor  of  the  adoption 
of  the  amendment. 

Therefore,  if  we  judge  the  sentiment  of  the  people 
of  the  state  by  the  action  of  their  representatives 
assembled  in  the  legislature  at  its  last  session,  we 
learn  that  the  overwhelming  popular  sentiment  of 
the  state  was  for  a  prohibitory  law  wiping  out  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage.  This  law 
comes  to  us,  then,  not  only  with  all  the  solemnity 
usually  attending  the  enactment  of  a  statute,  but  it 
comes  to  us  adopted  by  the  overwhelming  vote  of 
the  members  of  our  legislature.  I  suppose  no  law 
that  ever  met  opposition,  or  was  deemed  of  sufficient 
importance  to  be  debated,  has  ever  been  adopted  in 


242  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL    POINTS. 

our  legislature  with  greater  unanimity.  In  addition* 
to  this,  it  may  be  added  that  probably  no  legislature 
has  ever  convened  in  our  state  embracing  more  able 
and  distinguished  men  than  the  legislature  of  1881.. 
The  senators  and  representatives  were  of  all  par- 
ties and  classes.  They  gave  much  thought  to  the 
matter  of  legal  prohibition.  The  law  is  the  product 
of  the  great  majority.  If  the  majority  of  these 
senators  and  representatives  did  not  represent  the 
popular  sentiment  of  the  state  of  Kansas,  repre- 
sentative government  is  a  failure,  and  it  were  use- 
less to  attempt  the  election  of  persons  to  represent 
the  sentiment  of  the  state.  We  know,  however,  that 
the  legislature  carried  out  the  wishes  of  the  people 
and  voted  either  as  they  were  instructed,  or  as  they 

believed  their  constituents  desired. 

* 

It  is  said,  conceding  all  of  this,  that  in  some  of 
the  counties  of  the  state  the  prohibitory  law  is  not 
approved  or  endorsed.  This  is  true,  and  it  is  for  the 
purpose  of  creating  an  aggressive  public  sentiment 
to  uphold  this  law  everywhere  within  the  territorial 
limits  of  the  state  that  this  meeting  and  many  like 
gatherings  have  been  held  in  many  counties. 
Because  a  law  is  unpopular  in  some  communities  is 
not  a  sufficient  reason  for  its  repeal,  and  is  no  reason 
why  those  who  disobey  it  or  violate  its  provisions 
should  be  exempted  from  its  penalties. 

A  few  years  ago,  Congress  passed  a  law  having  for 
its  purpose  the  protection  of  the  colored  people  of 
the  south  to  the  full  right  of  the  ballot  at  all  con- 


SPEECH   BY   ALBEET    H.    HOETON. 

gressional  elections.  This  act  was  not  endorsed  and 
did  not  meet  the  popular  approval  of  many  of  the 
people  in  the  southern  states,  and  yet,  no  loyal  citi- 
zen of  the  country  ever  presented  that  as  an  objection 
to  the  strict  enforcement  of  its  provisions. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  prescribed 
a  law  that  no  one  shall  engage  in  the  manufacture 
of  fermented  or  distilled  liquors,  except  they  pay  a 
tax  therefor  and  conform  to  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  internal  revenue  department;  yet,  in  many 
portions  of  the  southern  states  there  is  a  large  class 
of  illicit  distillers,  who  are  engaged  in  the  violation 
of  this  law  and  in  disobedience  to  its  provisions,  and 
in  some  instances  a  class  of  these  distillers,  called 
"moonshiners,"  have  overpowered  the  officers  of  the 
government,  have  slaughtered  detectives,  killed 
marshals,  and  resisted  arrest;  yet  I  never  heard 
any  one  advocating  the  repeal  of  the  law  requiting  a 
tax  upon  the  manufacture  of  liquors,  because  com- 
munities in  the  south  trample  upon  its  provisions  and 
violate  its  terms. 

Congress  has  enacted  a  law  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
hibiting polygamy  in  the  territory  of  Utah.  That 
law  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  popular  sentiment 
of  the  believers  of  the  Mormon  faith.  It  is  not  only 
disobeyed,  but  disobedience  to  it  is  proclaimed  from 
pulpit  and  from  the  hustings  by  the  ministers  and 
followers  of  the  Mormon  religion.  So  hostile  and 
defiant  are  that  class  in  Utah  territory,  that  thus 
far  the  law  has  been  practically  a  dead  letter;  yet,  I 


244  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL    POINTS. 

never  heard  any  one  advocate  that  the  law  should  be 
repealed  because  the  Mormons  of  Utah  did  not  en- 
dorse its  provisions. 

For  years  there  has  been  a  law  upon  the  statute 
book  of  the  United  States  prohibiting  the  barter, 
sale  or  gift  of  intoxicating  liquors  to  Indians.  There 
has  scarcely  been  a  term  of  the  United  States  court 
held  in  Kansas  since  the  territory  was  organized, 
but  what  more  than  one  person  has  been  convicted 
of  the  violation  of  this  law.  It  has  never  met  the 
endorsement  of  the  Indians,  and  has  been  again  and 
again  disregarded  by  persons  trading  with  them,  and 
yet,  I  never  heard  of  any  person,  either  in  or  out  of 
Congress,  advocating  the  repeal  of  this  prohibitory 
law,  because  it  did  not  meet  the  approval  of  the 
Indians,  or  of  the  guilty  parties  who  furnished  them 
liquors  in  violation  of  its  provisions. 

We  have  upon  the  statutes  of  our  state,  a  law  pro- 
hibiting gambling,  and  in  many  communities  of  the 
state  the  law  is  violated  and  treated  with  contempt, 
yet  I  never  heard  of  any  persons  in  or  out  of  the 
legislature,  demanding  its  repeal  because  there  were 
communities  in  the  state  so  lawless  that  they  openly 
violated  the  terms  of  the  law. 

There  are  other  statutes  of  our  state  that  are  dis- 
regarded and  violated,  more  or  less  openly  in  some 
counties  and  in  some  communities,  and  yet,  because 
of  this  disregard  and  violation,  no  claim  is  set  up 
that  these  laws  should  be  wiped  out.  The  fact  is, 
that  all  of  these  laws  are  the  creatures  of  popular 


SPEECH   BY   ALBERT   H.    HOBTON.  245 

sentiment,  and  they  are  adopted  because  the  senti- 
ment of  the  country,  or  the  sentiment  of  the  state 
demands  their  enactment,  and  if  some  commu- 
nities, or  some  sections  of  the  country  or  the  state 
do  not  approve  or  endorse  them,  the  popular 
sentiment  demands  their  enforcement  all  the 
same.  The  sentiment  of  any  particular  section  or 
locality  must  yield  to  the  sentiment  of  the  greater 
community  of  the  nation  or  state,  and  the  fear  is 
that  if  any  particular  county  or  community  in  our 
state  continues  to  violate  the  popular  sentiment  of 
the  whole  state,  taken  in  its  aggregate,  as  expressed 
by  constitutional  law,  the  state  will  interfere  and 
attempt,  by  special  and  perhaps  severe  measures, 
to  control  the  officials  of  such  counties  and  com- 
munities. 

Already  there  is  a  strong  sentiment  growing  up 
in  favor  of  interfering  with  the  municipal  govern- 
ments of  our  cities,  in  order  to  enforce  laws  disre- 
garded by  them.  For  my  own  part,  I  would  prefer 
that  the  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  should  exist  within  our  cities, 
rather  than  that  outward  power  should  be  used  to 
regulate  their  internal  affairs.  Outward  power  will 
never  be  used,  if  all  the  laws  of  the  state  are 
enforced  in  our  municipalities,  as  well  as  they  are 
enforced  in  other  sections  of  our  commonwealth. 
Is  it  not  then  our  interest  to  urge  enforcement? 

The  question  may  be  asked,  if  other  statutes  of 
our  state  than  the  prohibitory  law  are  violated,  why 


24:6  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

the  necessity  of  calling  meetings  or  conventions  for 
the  especial  purpose  of  obtaining  the  enforcement 
of  the  prohibition  law?  Why  so  much  comment 
and  agitation  for  the  rigid  enforcement  of  this  law, 
rather  than  the  other  laws?  The  answer  from  the 
friends  of  the  law  is,  that  the  unfortunate  and  terri- 
ble consequences  which  have  resulted  from  intem- 
perance in  the  past  renders  imperative  the  duty 
and  necessity  of  limiting,  if  possible,  at  an  early 
day  the  injuries  resulting  from  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  as  a  beverage.  If  the  open  violation 
of  the  other  laws  threatened  like  immediate  dire 
results,  then  like  action  would  be  advisable  for  their 
strict  enforcement.  It  is  because  of  the  fearful  and 
fatal  effects  of  intemperance  that  so  much  energy 
and  interest  are  manifested  in  its  suppression. 

I  know  that  it  is  sometimes  said  that  only  relig- 
ious enthusiasts  or  temperance  fanatics  trouble 
themselves  about  the  effects  of  intemperance  or  the 
effects  of  alcoholic  drink  Yet  this  is  hardly  true. 
All  of  you  have  heard  of  Robert  Ingersoll.  I  do 
not  think  that  he  has  ever  been  charged  with  being 
a  religious  enthusiast  or  temperance  fanatic.  Now 
listen  a  moment  to  what  he  has  uttered  upon  this 
subject.  In  an  address  delivered  a  few  months  ago 

he  said: 

"Alcohol  is  the  blood  of  the  gambler,  the  inspiration  of  the 
burglar,  the  stimulus  of  the  highwayman  and  the  support  of  the 
midnight  incendiary.  It  suggests  the  lie  and  countenances  the 
liar ;  condones  the  thief  and  esteems  the  blasphemer.  It  violates 
obligation,  reverences  fraud,  turns  love  to  hate,  scorns  virtue  and 


SPEECH   BY   ALBERT   H.  .HOETON.  247 

innocence.  It  incites  the  father  to  butcher  his  helpless  offspring, 
and  the  child  to  sharpen  the  fratricidal  axe.  Alcohol  burns  up 
men,  consumes  women,  destroys  life,  curses  God  and  despises 
heaven.  It  suborns  witnesses,  nurses  perfidy,  denies  the  jury  box 
and  stains  the  judicial  ermine.  It  bribes  voters,  disqualifies  votes, 
corrupts  elections,  pollutes  our  institutions,  endangers  the  gov- 
ernment, degrades  the  citizen,  debases  the  legislator,  dishonors  the 
statesman  and  disarms  the  patriot.  It  brings  shame,  not  honor  ; 
terror,  not  safety  ;  despair,  not  hope  ;  misery,  not  happiness;  and 
"with  the  malevolence  of  a  fiend,  calmly  surveys  its  frightful  deso- 
lation,' and  reveling  in  havoc,  it  poisons  felicity,  destroys  poace  and 
ruins  morals,  wipes  out  national  honor,  curses  the  world  and 
laughs  at  the  ruin  it  has  wrought.  It  does  that  and  more.  It 
murders  the  soul.  It  is  the  sum  of  all  villainies,  the  father  of  all 
•crimes,  the  mother  of  all  abominations,  the  devil's  best  friend, 
and  God's  worst  enemy." 

If  a  man  of  the  observation,  intelligence  and  be- 
lief of  Ingersoll  can  thus  truthfully  depict  the  awful 
consequences  arising  from  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  tell  me  what  law  is  too  severe  to  protect  the 
state  or  the  family  from  its  blasting  and  destroying 
influences?  Tell  me  what  law  is  too  severe  to  pro- 
tect the  state  and  the  family  from  this  hell  of  crime, 
of  dishonor  and  of  death?  If  it  fills  our  jails,  and 
our  almshouses,  and  our  asylums  with  its  victims, 
as  all  concede,  tell  me  what  law  is  too  severe  to 
restrain  and  chain  the  monster  that  is  so  merciless 
io  mankind?  If  it  feeds  our  penitentiaries  and  our 
scaffolds,  as  all  concede,  what  law  is  too  severe  to 
control  or  prohibit  its  sale? 

While  all  good  people  concur  in  the  necessity  of 
restraining,  and  in  some  way  controlling  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage,  there  has  been  a 
.great  difference  among  them  as  to  the  manner  of  the 


248  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

constraint  or  control.  Some  believe  that  license 
laws  are  the  best  to  effectuate  the  object,  others  that 
local  option  laws  are  advisable ;  others  again — and  of 
these  a  majority  of  the  people  of  this  state — believe 
legal  prohibition  the  only  successful  means  to  secure 
the  end  to  be  achieved.  Whatever  may  be  said  as 
to  the  impracticability  of  prohibition,  whatever  may 
be  said  as  to  its  failure  of  enforcement  in  many  of 
the  counties  of  this  state,  this  much  at  least  must  be 
conceded,  that  neither  license  laws,  nor  local  option 
laws  have  ever  met  with  strict  enforcement  in  all  of 
the  counties  of  our  commonwealth. 

The  old  dramshop  act,  which,  to  some  extent,  com- 
bined the  license  and  the  local  option  law,  was  in 
many  of  the  counties  of  this  state  openly  and  noto- 
riously violated.  It  provided,  among  other  things, 
that  no  intoxicating  liquors  should  be  sold  on  the 
Sabbath,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  or  on  any  election 
day.  It  also  made  it  improper  to  sell,  barter  or  give 
away  any  intoxicating  liquor  to  any  person  who  was 
in  the  habit  of  being  intoxicated,  and  forbade  the 
gift  or  sale  to  minors  of  such  liquors,  without  the 
consent  of  the  parent  or  guardian  ;  yet,  in  our  own 
county,  while  that  law  was  in  force  all  of  these  pro- 
visions were  wholly  disregarded.  In  the  city  of 
Atchison,  under  the  dramshop  act,  the  Sabbath  was 
openly  desecrated,  and  intoxicating  liquors  could  be 
purchased  morning  and  night  without  the  slightest 
secresy.  Our  national  holiday,  instead  of  being  a 
day  of  rejoicing  and  gladness  to  commemorate  the 


SPEECH   BY   ALBERT    H,    HOBTON.  24:9 

liberties  won  and  transmitted  to  us  by  the  sainted 
fathers  of  the  revolution,  has  often  been  with  us  a 
day  of  debauchery,  drunkenness  and  vice.  On  elec- 
tion days,  when,  of  all  other  times,  the  citizen  needs 
cool  brain  and  firm  judgment,  the  saloons  were  open 
wide,  and  sent  their  votaries  to  the  ballot  box  to 
exercise  the  great  right  of  franchise,  inflamed  with 
alcohol  and  lost  to  all  consciousness  or  sense  of 
shame.  And  in  these  matters,  I  suppose  that  Atchi- 
son  city  was  as  obedient  to  that  law  as  the  other 
cities  of  the  state.  I  certainly  think  it  was  no  worse. 
Therefore,  if  the  prohibition  law  has  not  met  in 
this  county  with  the  success  its  advocates  fondly 
hoped,  it  may  well  be  said  that  the  law  it  displaced 
met  with  no  better  success.  Indeed,  to  some  extent, 
the  prohibition  law  has  been  successful  in  our  midst. 
I  have  been  informed,  that  since  the  first  of  May 
the  saloons  are  closed  upon  the  Sabbath,  arid  by 
agreement  among  the  keepers,  minors  are  prevented 
from  obtaining  intoxicating  liquors.  This  much  has 
been  conceded  to  the  local  sentiment  of  the  people. 
If  that  local  sentiment  demands  other  concessions, 
they  will  be  granted.  If  that  local  sentiment  de- 
mands the  enforcement  of  the  law  it  will  be  enforced. 
I  appreciate  the  difficulty  of  enforcing  gambling 
laws,  Sabbath  laws,  and  the  laws  restraining  the  sale 
of  intoxicating  liquors,  yet,  when  these  laws  are 
upon  our  statute  books,  is  ji  not  the  duty  of  every 
community,  or,  at  least,  of  the  better  class  of  that 
community,  to  attempt  to  build  up  and  create  a, 

17 


250  ARGUMENTS    ON   SPECIAL    POINTS. 

moral  sentiment  that  will  be  in  accordance  with  the 
popular  sentiment  of  the  state,  and  that  will  demand 
respect  for  the  laws,  and  the  enforcement  of  all  their 
provisions?  If  the  good  citizens  act  together,  a 
sentiment  will  be  developed  so  strong  and  so  pow- 
erful, that  not  only  will  our  citizens  command  the 
execution  of  the  laws,  but  will  demand  their  enforce- 
ment. 

You  men  and  women  gathered  here  to-day  in  such 
large  numbers,  who  have  planted  yourselves  upon 
the  platform  of  the  constitution  and  enforcement  of 
the  laws  occupy  an  impregnable  position.  All  the 
arguments  are  in  your  favor;  none  of  them  are 
against  you.  You  are  in  accord  with  the  popular 
sentiment  of  the  people  of  the  state ;  you  have  the 
respect  of  all  good  citizens;  the  prayers  of  'all  good 
men  and  women,  and  are  deserving  the  blessing  of 
Almighty  God. 

I  recollect  that  during  the  early  years  of  the  war, 
a  little  company  was  formed  in  Atchison  city,  to 
join  the  First  Regiment  of  State  Volunteers,  called 
into  action  to  enforce  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  our  country.  This  company  had  for  its  motto 
"  The  enforcement  of  the  laws  at  all  hazards."  It 
was  known  as  the  "  All  Hazard  Company"  of  the 
First  Regiment  of  Volunteers,  that  enlisted  in 
Kansas  for  the  suppression  of  the  great  rebellion. 
I  recollect  its  departure  from  the  city  of  Atchison 
to  join  its  regiment  at  Leavenworth  one  bright 
morning  in  May,  1861.  It  was  but  a  few  weeks  after 


SPEECH   BY    ALBERT   H.    HORTON.  251 

the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  at  the  time  there  was 
great  discussion  all  over  the  land,  over  the  power  and 
ability  of  the  government  to  enforce  its  laws.  Many 
believed  coercion  was  impracticable ;  many  said  the 
constitution  was  a  rope  of  sand,  and  there  was  no 
power  to  maintain  the  Union.  Many  said,  better  let 
"  the  wayward  sisters"  depart  in  peace.  I  recollect  as 
the  All  Hazard  company  marched  clown  the  streets 
of  our  city  on  its  way  to  the  war,  some  of  the  be- 
lievers in  these  theories  tauntingly  said,  that  the 
company  was  going  to  fight  in  a  useless  cause ;  that 
all  of  its  members  were  raw  recruits,  and  not  fit  for 
active  service  ;  that  they  had  better  stay  at  home, 
attend  to  their  business  and  let  the  regular  forces  of 
the  country  do  the  fighting  and  protect  the  flag; 
that  at  the  first  battle,  when  met  by  southern  chiv- 
alry, trained  to  arms  and  service,  they  would  Jbe 
defeated  and  slaughtered,  unless  they  retired  from 
the  field  in  dishonor.  Yet,  that  little  company, 
going  out  upon  its  expedition  to  enforce  the  laws, 
associated  with  thousands  of  others  enlisted  in  the 
same  cause,  from  this  and  other  states,  met,  a  few 
months  afterwards,  the  power  and  strength  of  the 
chivalry  of  the  south,  near  Springfield,  Missouri, 
and  won  for  themselves  imperishable  honor  for  their 
bravery,  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  our  country.  They,  and  thousands  with 
them,  were  engaged  in  a  right  cause,  in  a  holy  cru- 
sade, and  "the  God  of  battles"  gave  them,  raw  re- 
cruits as  they  were,  strength,  and  power,  and  victory. 


252  ARGUMENTS  ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

They,  and  the  others  who  enlisted  like  them,  from 
the  loyal  states,  at  last,  through  great  sacrifices  of 
blood  and  treasure,  with  the  loss  of  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  men,  and  with  the  expenditure 
of  millions  and  tens  of  millions  of  treasure,  suc- 
ceeded in  their  purpose,  and  finally  the  authority  of 
the  constitution  of  our  country  was  vindicated  and 
the  supremacy  of  the  law  asserted. 

To-day,  thanks  to  the  enlisted  soldiers  of  our 
country,  who  volunteered  to  suppress  the  great 
rebellion,  all  of  the  states  are  back  in  the  republic, 
circling  the  federal  centre  and  chanting  the  paean 
of  "  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and 
inseparable."  If,  under  the  discouragements  and 
disasters  which  met  our  troops  a  few  years  ago 
in  enforcing  the  laws  of  our  country,  those  who 
remained  steadfast  to  the  constitution  were  finally 
successful,  may  we  not  with  greater  hope  believe 
that  in  the  great  contest  now  going  on  in  this  state, 
the  friends  of  the  constitution,  and  those  favoring 
the  enforcement  of  all  the  laws,  shall  be  equally 
successful?  Such,  at  least,  must  be  the  hope  of 
every  one  who  wishes  well  for  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  the  commonwealth,  who  wishes  well  for 
the  honor  and  character  of  Kansas. 

The  propriety  of  the  policy  of  adopting  prohibi- 
tory legislation  is  not  now  the  matter  of  discussion. 
That  question  Is  lost  in  the  overshadowing  magnitude 
and  public  importance  of  the  question,  shall  the 
laws  of  the  state  fee  enforced  ?  The  mere  fact  that 


SPEECH   BY    ALBERT    H,    HORTON.  253 

it  is  in  the  power  of  a  few  saloons  to  defiantly  strike 
down  the  statute  of  our  state,  the  fact  that  it  is  in 
the  power  of  a  few  dramshop-keepers  to  paralyze 
the  legal  measures  of  the  people,  renders  the  issue 
one  of  almost  unnatural  interest.  It  is  an  issue 
between  the  saloons  and  the  law;  it  is  an  issue  be- 
tween the  dramshop-keepers  and  the  people  of  the 
state.  "Which  are  the  strongest?  I  leave  you  to 
answer.  I  leave  the  people  of  this  state  in  the  full- 
ness of  their  majesty  and  power  to  give  the  reply. 

If  the  opponents  of  the  amendment  believe  the 
people  made  a  mistake  in  adopting  it,  let  them  con- 
vince the  people  of  their  error,  and  modify  the 
constitution  by  proper  submission  of  an  amendment 
to  the  voters.  If  the  opponents  of  the  prohibition 
law  believe  its  strict  enforcement  injurious  in  results, 
let  them  seek  its  repeal  by  legal  methods,  but  no 
one,  be  he  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  is  justified  in 
organizing  flagrant  and  avowed  contempt  of  that 
law,  or  of  any  other  law  of  the  commonwealth. 

As  I  sit  down,  I  express  the  earnest  wish  that  the 
people  of  Effingham,  and  the  people  of  our  county, 
and  the  people  of  our  state  may  in  fact  and  in  deed 
practice  fidelity  to  the  constitution  and  loyalty  to  all 
the  laws.  May  we  all  of  us,  not  only  teach,  but 
practice  fidelity  to  the  right  and  loyalty  to  the  LAWT 
here  and  everywhere.. 


III. 

THE    PEACT1CABILITT    OF    THE     MOVE- 
MENT PKOVED  BY  ITS  SUCCESS. 


ADDRESS   OF  HON.    JOHN   B.  FINCH   AT  DECATUB,    ILLI- 
NOIS, MABCH  30,  1882. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — The  liquor  traffic  in 
this  country  is  based  upon  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion. The  acme  of  liquor-drinking  civilization  is 
debauchery,  vice  and  crime.  The  hope  of  the  tem- 
perance workers  must  be,  the  moral,  social  and  intel- 
lectual elevation  of  the  race.  The  two  armies  now 
-arrayed  in  this  country  are, — on  the  one  hand,  igno- 
rance ;  on  the  other,  intelligence :  on  the  one  hand,  all 
that  is  debauched  and  vile;  and  on  the  other,  the 
highest  hopes  of  the  world.  Such  a  battle-field  as 
this  must  be  interesting  to  every  lover  of  his  race, 
every  friend  of  humanity,  and  every  one  who 
believes  in  a  future  life,  and  in  a  personal  God. 
Aye,  and  it  must  be  interesting  to  those  who  only 
aspire  to  see  here,  in  this  life,  the  intellectual  and 
physical  development  of  the  race,  the  curbing  of 
animal  passions,  and  the  restraining  of  ignorant 
vice. 

254 


SPEECH   BY    JOHN   B.    FINCH.  255 

Members  of  temperance  organizations  and  socie- 
ties recently  formed,  into  whose  minds  the  light  has 
come  in  these  latter  days,  in  the  fresh  enthusiasm  of 
souls  just  brought  from  semi-darkness  into  the  light, 
exclaim:  "  The  principles  underlying  the  reform  are 
self-evident.  The  criminal  results  of  the  traffic  are 
not  denied.  It  stands  a  criminal  without  a  defender. 
Why  is  it  not  overthrown?"  To  some,  this  impa- 
tience and  the  loss  of  faith  in  humanity,  which 
always  results  from  it,  may  seem  reasonable ;  but  to 
me,  looking  from  the  stand-point  of  one  of  the  old- 
est temperance  organizations  in  this  country — the 
Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars — which  dates 
its  labors  from  the  year  1852,  the  reasons  why  the 
reform  moves  so  slowly  are  self-evident. 

It  is  a  slow  work  to  lift  humanity  from  a  lower  to 
a  higher  plane  of  civilization ;  it  is  a  difficult  work 
to  disabuse  the  minds  of  the  people  of  delusions 
long  cherished,  and  of  ideas  which  are  strength- 
ened by  their  avarice,  by  their  intemperance,  and  by 
their  strong  party  affiliations. 

The  impressions  made  upon  the  brain  in  child- 
hood are  never  effaced.  In  the  language  of  one  of 
the  greatest  of  living  scientists,  "  Scars  on  the  brain 
can  be  removed  only  by  the  destruction  of  the  brain.'' 
Teach  a  child  a  lie  is  a  truth,  and  such  instructions 
will  influence  him,  even  after  manhood's  years  have 
convinced  him  of  the  absurdity  of  his  childish  instruc- 
tions. Ask  the  old  men  in  the  audience  at  what  period 
in  their  lives  they  received  lasting  impressions  most 


256  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

readily;  they  will  answer,  "the  mind  retains  most 
clearly  the  details  of  events  which  transpired  when 
we  were  between  the  ages  of  five  and  thirty  years." 

I  visited  an  old  lady  in  my  native  state,  New  York, 
some  years  ago,  who  was  ninety-two  years  of  age. 
I  was  sitting  and  chatting  with  her  when,  interrupt- 
ing me,  she  said:  "  I  want  to  tell  you  something;" 
and  then  she  told  me  of  a  wedding  that  had  occurred 
fifty-seven  years  before.  She  described  how  the 
groom  was  dressed,  told  who  were  there,  gave  their 
names  readily,  and  the  details  of  the  affair  as 
minutely  and  accurately  as  though  she  had  been 
reading  from  a  book.  When  she  had  finished  her 
story  I  said  to  her,  "  Mother  Stuart,  will  you  tell  me 
what  you  had  for  dinner  yesterday?"  Putting  her 
hand  up  .to  her  head,  she  said:  "Law,  ain't  it 
strange  how  we  forget?"  She  could  remember 
accurately,  distinctly,  things  which  had  occurred 
fifty -seven  years  before,  but  what  had  occurred 
twenty -four  hours  before  had  left  no  impression  on 
the  brain.  The  brain  of  childhood  receives  impres- 
sions and  retains  them. 

Once  while  visiting  an  insane  asylum  in  the  East, 
I  asked  the  superintendent  if  he  would  allow  me 
to  see  a  certain  Methodist  minister.  I  had  known 
the  minister  in  my  home  as  one  of  the  best  and 
truest  of  men,  who,  by  overwork,  physical  and  men- 
tal, had  wrecked  himself  and  become  a  raving 
maniac.  The  superintendent  of  the  asylum  said, 
"You  will  not  want  to  see  him;"  but  I  said,  "Yes," 


SPEECH    BY    JOHN   B.    FINCH.  257 

and  he  took  me  to  the  ward  of  the  asylum  known  as 
"  bedlam  ward."  Unlocking  the  door  of  one  of  the 
cells,  we  entered.  The  inmate  was  locked  up  in  the 
machine  known  as  the  "  straight  jacket,"  to  prevent 
him  from  injuring  himself.  As  we  entered  the 
room,  the  most  terrible,  the  most  vile,  the  most 
vulgar  oaths  which  I  ever  heard  in  my  life  came 
from  his  lips.  I  touched  the  superintendent  and 
said  I  did  not  wish  to  stay  longer.  Going  down  the 
corridor  I  turned  to  the  superintendent  and  said  to 
him,  ''What  can  this  mean?  When  I  knew  that 
man  he  was  one  of  the  grandest  Christians — true, 
noble  and  good  in  every  respect,  and  now  to  hear 
such  vile  language  coming  from  him  surprises  me." 
Said  the  superintendent,  "  He  learned  to  swear  when 
a  boy.  .  The  impressions  were  made  on  his  brain  at 
that  period  of  his  life  when  the  brain  most  readily 
receives  impressions,  and  when  reason  was  dethroned, 
these  impressions  became  the  governing,  ones.  In 
this  asylum  we  can  almost  uniformly  tell  what  have 
been  the  habits,  the  customs  and  abuses  of  insane 
people  when  they  were  children.  The  brain  at  such 
times  receives  impressions  readily ;  the  impressions 
are  permanent;  and  if  they  have  indulged  in  vile 
things,  or  used  terrible  language,  the  dethronement 
of  reason  and  intelligent  conscience  will  give  the 
early  impressions  and  habits  control  of  the  mind.  If 
the  people  of  this  country  could  only  realize,  as  we 
realize  here,  that  it  is  the  education  of  the  children 
which  makes  the  race,  the  race  would  be  better  off." 


258  AEGUMENTS   ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

Not  only  are  these  impressions  permanent,  but  as 
we  grow  older,  although  we  may  in  a  measure  dis- 
abuse our  minds  of  the  belief  in  them,  they  are  ever 
present  to  bless  or  curse  us  to  a  very  great  extent. 

My  grandmother  believed  in  ghosts,  sincerely, 
honestly;  she  believed  in  ghosts  just  as  sincerely  as 
she  believed  in  the  Bible,  and  I  think  she  was  one 
of  the  grandest  Christians  I  have  ever  known.  She 
would  frequently  entertain  us  children  (there  were 
seven  of  us)  by  gathering  us  around  her  and  telling 
us  ghost  stories.  She  would  tell  them  in  a  way 
which  made  every  one  of  us  believe  them.  My 
grandmother  ne\er  lied,  and,  knowing  her  veracity, 
knowing  her  integrity,  knowing  her  regard  for  the 
strict  letter  of  truth,  we  believed  all  she  said.  She- 
knew  there  were  ghosts ;  she  had  seen  them,  heard 
them,  and  we  believed  her.  I  grew  to  boyhood.  I 
never  passed  a  cemetery  at  night  but  I  gave  more 
attention  to  that  side  of  the  road  than  I  did  the 
other,  and  when 'I  had  passed  by  the  graveyard,  had 
rather  run  than  walk.  When  young  manhood  came 
and  I  went  away  to  school,  I  never  entered  the  dis- 
secting-room and  turned  down  the  cover  from  a 
cadaver  to  commence  work,  without  a  feeling  of 
horror  and  fear — that  feeling  of  terrible  awe  which 
I  had  felt  in  my  boyhood  days  while  listening  to  my 
grandmother's  stories.  It  intimidated  me  and  made 
the  hand  nervous.  I  tell  you  to-night  I  do  not 
believe  in  ghosts;  and  yet,  honestly,  I  do  not  know 
whether  I  do  or  not  The  teaching  of  my  boyhood 


SPEECH    BY    JOHN   B.    FINCH.  259 

says,  "there  are  ghosts;"  the  teaching  of  my  after 
years  says,  "the  belief  is  nonsense;"  reason  and 
intelligence  say,  "it  is  absurd  and  foolish;"  but 
childish  impressions  say,  "it  is  true." 

I  was  crossing  a  divide  in  my  own  state  some 
months  ago  on  horseback  late  at  night.  Tired  and 
worn,  I  allowed  my  pony  to  have  his  own  way.  I 
presume  I  was  half  asleep.  '  The  pony  was  picking 
his  way  along  the  bank  of  a  draw  (in  this  country 
it  would  be  called  a  ravine),  when  he  stumbled  and 
nearly  fell.  I  do  not  know  how  long  I  had  been 
riding  in  that  semi-conscious  condition  when  aroused 
by  the  jolt.  A  rapid  glance  showed  me  I  was  in  an 
Indian  burying  ground.  The  shape  of  the  mounds 
told  what'  tribe  had  buried  there,  and  I  knew  they 
were  hundreds  of  miles  away  in  the  Indian  terri- 
tory. I  was  well  mounted  and  armed,  certainly  not 
afraid;  yet,  as  I  rode  through  the  graveyard  and 
down  the  slope  on  the  other  side,  something  cold 
started  at  the  region  of  the  heart,  and  went  down 
toward  my  toes,  then  up  toward  my  hair,  and  my 
hair  got  wonderfully  strong  and  my  hat  wonderfully 
light.  The  first  look  was  a  look  back  over  my 
shoulder.  I  stopped  the  horse  and  asked  myself 
the  question,  "  Why  look  back?"  and  I  had  to  admit, 
I  had  looked  back  for  ghosts. 

So,  I  say  to  you  I  do  not  believe  in  ghosts,  and  I 
do  believe  in  ghosts.  The  teachings  of  my  boyhood 
days  will  go  with  me  to  my  grave,  and  although  I 
may  study,  although  I  may  work,  although  I  may 


260  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

do  everything  I  can  to  overcome  it,  I  am  sure  that 
in  moments  of  weakness,  of  suspense,  perhaps  of 
fear,  the  early  teachings  will  always  come  up  and 
govern,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  inclinations  and 
the  impulses  of  the  heart. 

You  older  men  know  this  is  true  of  your  own 
experience.  If  you  were  taught  when  young  to 
plant  your  corn  in  the  moon,  or  at  a  certain  time  in 
the  moon,  you  will  plant  it  then  yet.  If  you  were 
taught  that  a  dog  standing  with  his  head  toward  a 
house  and  barking  at  midnight  meant  death  in  the 
family  within  a  year,  you  will  never  feel  comfortable 
when  hearing  the  dog  bark  and  seeing  him  in  such 
position.  If  you  were  taught  when  a  boy  to  put  an 
angleworm  on  the  hook  and  then  spit  on  the  worm 
to  make  the  fish  bite  more  readily,  you  will  spit  on 
the  worm  yet,  though  for  your  life  you  cannot  tell 
whether  fish  like  tobacco  juice  or  not. 

From  these  natural  laws  and  tendencies  of  the 
brain  we  must  draw  our  conclusions.  If  we  would 
understand  the  conditions  of  this  reform  and  what 
we  have  to  overcome  in  order  to  win,  we  must  stop 
and  ask,  "What  theories,  what  ideas  and  what 
opinions  were  entertained  by  the  fathers,  mothers 
and  teachers  of  the  present  generation  of  men  and 
women  of  this  country  in  regard  to  the  sale  and 
use  of  alcoholic  liquors?"  The  question  to  settle 
when  we  come  to  investigate  this  movement  and 
judge  how  rapidly  we  may  succeed  is,  what  teaching, 
what  instruction,  and  what  superstitions  implanted 
in  the  brain  of  this  generation  have  we  to  overcome  ? 


SPEECH   BY    JOHN   B.    FINCH.  261 

The  liquor  business  in  this  country  is  founded  in 
superstition.  There  is  not  a  thing  modern,  not  a 
thing  intellectual,  not  a  thing  elevating  about  it 
The  drinking  customs  of  this  land  were  born  back 
in  the  misty  past,  and  every  one  of  them  is  hoary- 
headed  with  superstition  and  moss-backed  with  age. 
They  are  only  remnants  of  the  legends  of  the  past 
that  have  come  to  us,  not  through  the  educated 
minds  of  the  race,  but  perpetuated  in  other  coun- 
tries as  they  have  been  perpetuated  in  this  country, 
in  the  baseness  of  the  lusts  and  passions  of  humanity. 

For  a  moment  let  us  see  in  part,  if  we  may,  what 
some  of  these  impressions  have  been.  You  know 
that  every  one  of  the  drinking  customs  of  this  land 
comes  down  to  us  from  the  pagan  worship  of  devil 
gods.  A  woman  takes  a  glass  of  wine  in  her  fingers, 
raises  it  to  her  lips — she  is  imitating  the  example  of 
the  drunken  courtesans  of  Greece,  as,  amid  the 
revels  of  Bacchus,  they  gave  up  their  honor  for 
place  and  power. 

A  man  takes  a  glass  of  the  nasty,  dirty,  bitter 
swill,  known  as  beer,  and  gulps  it  down,  and,  as  he 
rolls  into  the  gutter,  debauched,  and  with  his  man- 
hood soiled  and  tainted  by  contact  with  this  heathen 
relic,  he  cries  out,  "  Great  is  Gambrinus,  the  god  of 
beer  !"  In  this  city  you  erect  temples  to  the  tradi- 
tions and  institutions  of  Bacchus  and  Gambrinus, 
two  of  the  most  beastly  heathen  gods,  and  pay  more 
money  to  continue  their  worship  than  you  pay  for 
the  support  of  your  churches  and  your  common 
schools. 


262  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

Enter  v a  saloon  with  a  young  man;  watch  him  a 
moment  or  two,  and  study  the  delusion  under  which 
he  is  acting.  You  know  him  to  be  good,  kind,  and 
affectionate.  What  has  he  in  his  hand?  It  is  a 
glass  of  liquor.  It  is  a  bitter  cold  day,  and,  as  he 
raises  the  glass  to  his  lips,  you  step  up  to  him  and 
say,  "Hold  on,  Tom;  what  are  you  drinking  that 
liquor  for?"  With  a  face  as  long  as  grandmother's 
face  when  she  told  the  ghost  stories,  he  tells  you  he 
is  drinking  the  liquor  "to  warm  him  up."  You  say 
to  him,  "  Tom,  does  drinking  liquor  warm  you  up  ? 
Do  you  not  know  the  physiologists  of  this  country 
say  that  is  a  false  idea?"  He  says,  "I  don't  know 
anything  about  physiologists,  and  I  don't  want  to." 

Six  months  pass,  and  August  with  its  severe  heat 
is  here ;  you  see  the  same  man  enter  the  saloon,  and 
as  you  follow  him  again,  you  see  him  take  up  a  glass 
of  the  same  kind  of  liquor.  "  Tom,"  you  say,  "  what 
are  you  drinking  that  liquor  for  ?"  and  he  tells  you 
with  the  same  long  face,  that  it  is  a  fearfully  warm 
day,  and  he  is  drinking  it  "to  cool  him  off."  Sup- 
pose I  were  to  bring  a  stove  on  the  platform,  fill  it 
with  fuel,  start  a  fire,  let  the  stove  become  hot,  and 
then  say  to  one  of  the  little  boys  who  are  present 
to-night,  "Come  up  here,  Willie."  As  he  comes, 
at  my  suggestion  he  puts  his  fingers  to  the  stove  and 
is  burned;  he  snaps  his  fingers  at  me  and  says,  "Oh, 
you  thought  you  were  smart,  didn't  you?" 

Again,  it  is  summer  time.  Now  put  in  the  fuel, 
start  the  fire;  the  stove  gets  hot,  and  I  say,  "  Willie, 


SPEECH   BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  263 

come  up  here  and  sit  down  on  this  stove ;  it  will  cool 
you  off."  What  would  be  the  answer  of  the  child? 
"If  fire  burns  in  the  winter,  it  will  burn  in  the 
summer."  Any  child  will  readily  recognize  the 
nonsense  of  the  drinker's  position.  And  yet,  men, 
full-grown  men,  men  with  gray  hairs,  men  with 
wrinkles  on  their  brows,  drink  whisky  as  fire  in  the 
winter  to  warm  them,  and  whisky  as  fire  in  the 
summer  to  cool  them  off ! 

Will  you  laugh  at  grandmother  who  taught  me  to 
believe  in  ghosts,  if  you  talk  like  that,  my  friends? 

Again,  see  a  man  in  a  saloon  drinking  liquor  "to 
warm  him  up;"  if  it  warms  him  it  must  be  fuel  and 
food.  The  heat  of  the  body  is  generated  like  the 
heat  of  the  stove,  by  combustion  of  fuel  taken  in  at 
the  mouth.  The  drinker,  if  his  theory  is  correct,  is 
simply  taking  in  firewood.  With  this  he  loads  his 
physical  system  all  day,  and  at  night  starts  for  his 
home  out  on  the  prairies  of  this  county.  The  next 
morning  he  is  found  by  the  roadside,  dead.  What 
killed  him  ?  All  day  yesterday  he  was  taking  alco- 
holic firewood  to  warm  him  up,  and  if  his  theory  that 
alcohol  generates  heat  be  true,  he  must  )iave  burned 
to  death.  The  coroner's  jury  say:  "He  froze." 
Nine  out  of  every  ten  men  who  have  perished  with 
cold  in  this  northern  land,  labored  under  the  foolish, 
idiotic  superstition^  that  alcoholic  liquor  adds  heat 
to  the  physical  system,  and  thus  drank  that  which 
reduced  their  power  of  endurance  and  hastened  their 
death. 


264  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

Again,  a  broad-shouldered  man  enters  a  saloon. 
You  ask: 

"Charlie,  what  are  you  drinking  for?" 

He  replies:  "I  am  drinking  alcoholic  liquor 
because  I  have  a  difficult  job  on  hand,  and  I  want  to 
add  a  little  to  my  strength." 

"How  does  alcoholic  liquor  give  you  strength?" 

*'  I  do  not  know,  but  it  does." 

"  Do  you  not  know  that  alcoholic  liquors  act  as 
the  whip  to  the  tired,  exhausted  system,  simply  using 
up  the  reserve  force,  forcing  you  to  use  strength  you 
ought  not  to  use  ?" 

"But  I  feel  stronger." 

"  Yes,  and  if  you  sit  down  on  a  pin  rightly  fixed, 
you  would  feel  stronger.  It  would  stimulate,  not 
strengthen." 

He  persists,  and  during  the  day  takes  liquor  to 
make  him  strong.  Late  at  night  you  start  for  your 
home.  You  hear  a  grunt  in  the  gutter,  and  looking 
down  you  see  a  man  holding  on  to  the  earth  to  keep 
from  falling  off.  He  cannot  stir  hand  or  foot.  You 
roll  him  over  to  see  who  he  is,  and  lo !  he  is  the  man 
who  was  drinking  liquor  to  make  him  strong. 
"What  ails  him?"  Why,  if  his  logic  is  right,  he  is 
too  strong. 

Again,  I  asked  a  gentleman  recently  why  he  drank 
beer.  He  replied,  "I  drink  beer  because  it  is  good 
as  food."  Now  this  is  a  common  delusion,  yet  I  wish 
to  assure  you.  my  friends,  that  the  German  drinks 
his  beer,  the  Frenchman  drinks  his  wine,  the  Irish- 


SPEECH    BY    JOHN    B.    FINCH.  265 

man  drinks  his  whisky,  the  Englishman  drinks  his 
ale  and  gin,  and  the  Yankee  all  kinds  of  drinks,  for 
the  drunk  there  is  in  them.  They  all  drink  for  the 
intoxicating  principle  there  is  in  the  drinks. 

To  this  proposition  you  may  demur  for  an  instant. 
Let  me  prove  it.  You  drink  beer  for  the  food  or 
nourishment  it  is  supposed  to  contain.  Very  well. 
Send  to  the  saloon,  buy  a  gallon  of  beer,  take  it  home, 
and  put  it  in  the  cellar  on  ice,  put  ice  around  it  to  keep 
it  cool,  let  it  remain  there  until  the  next  morning, 
then  bring  it  up  stairs  to  drink.  No,  you  will  not 
use  it.  Why?  "It  is  dead."  Yes,  the  devil,  has 
got  out  of  it,  the  drunkard-making  alcohol  has  run 
away.  It  has  only  the  food  (?)  left,  while  the  alco- 
hol and  carbonic  acid  gas,  neither  of  them  food, 
neither  of  them  nourishment,  have  partially  escaped. 

An  old  German  in  the  city  in  which  I  reside  said 
to  me  at  once  when  I  made  the  assertion:  "Yell,  I 
tole  you  vat  I  tinks.  I  tinks  you  vos  mistaken 
yourself."  He  said:  "  I  drinks  beer  for  food." 
"  Very  well,"  I  said  to  him,  "  you  get  some  beer  and 
let  us  see  whether  you  do  or  not."  He  brought  me 
some  beer.  I  took  a  retort,  improvised  a  still,  and 
then  distilled  the  alcohol  from  the  beer.  When  I 
had  thus  removed  the  alcohol,  I  took  the  remainder, 
cooled  it  on  ice,  turned  it  into  a  tumbler  and  gave  it  to 
him  to  drink  He  drank  about  half  a  glass  of  it, 
when  all  he  had  drank  of  it  and  his  breakfast  came 
back  together.  From  that  day  to  this  the  old  man 
will  tell  you,  "Feench  put  somedings  in  dot  beer 

18 


266  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL    POINTS 

vot  makes  me  sick  right  avay  quick,"  while  the  fact 
was,  I  simply  took  from '  the  beer  what  would  have 
made  him  drunk. 

One  of  the  greatest  chemists  the  world  has  ever 
known,  said,  after  eight  years  of  thorough  experiment 
(and  by  the  way  this  chemist  was  a  German 
chemist),  "I  have  proved  with  mathematical  accu- 
racy that  the  amount  of  nourishment  you  may  take 
upon  the  point  of  a  table  knife,  inserted  into  a  sack 
of  flour,  contains  absolutely  more  nourishment  for 
the  physical  organism  than  the  nourishment  con- 
tained in  eight  quarts  of  the  best  Bavarian  beer,  and 
if  a  person  is  able  to  drink  two  gallons  of  beer  each 
day  in  the  year,  he  would  get  about  the  same  amount 
of  nutrition  from  the  beer  in  twelve  months  that  he 
would  by  consuming  a  five-pound  loaf  of  bread,  or 
three  pounds  of  lean  meat." 

I  want  to  say  to  you  and  to  everybody  else  who 
labors  under  this  mistaken  idea  that  you  drink  beer 
for  food,  having  a  weak  digestion,  and  knowing  as 
you  do  how  delicate  this  physical  organism  is,  that 
you  simply  strain  more  than  seven  hundred  and 
twenty  gallons  of  swill  through  your  impaired 
stomach  to  catch-  a  loaf  of  bread. 

Another  person  says:  "  I  do  not  drink  beer  for  the 
food  there  is  in  it,  nor  for  the  alcohol  which  it  con- 
tains, but  I  drink  it  for  the  hops.  Hops,  you  know, 
are  healthy."  My  friend,  if  you  will  go  to  a  drug 
store,  buy  ten  cents'  worth  of  hops,  and  steep  them 
in  two  gallons  of  water,  you  will  get  more  hop  tea 


SPEECH   BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  267 

than  you  get  in  five  gallons  of  beer.  Can  you  con- 
Tince  any  sensible  man  that  you  buy  five  gallons  of 
beer  and  pay  the  price  for  it  you  do,  and  'drink  it 
to  obtain  ten  cents'  worth  of  hop  tea? 

These  are  some  of  the  delusions  which  find  a  lodg- 
ing place  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  but  they  are 
losing  their  hold  gradually,  as  science  and  intelli- 
gence break  down  the  fortifications  of  ignorance  and 
superstition.  You  older  men  can  tell  these  boys  in 
the  audience  to-night,  that  when  you  were  boys  liquor 
was  the  first  thing  ever  drank  by  children,  and  it 
^was  the  last  thing  when  the  people  died.  It  was 
present  on  all  occasions.  The  theory  was  that  it  was 
universally  beneficial  and  universally  necessary. 

Some  may  object,  and  some  do  object,  that  hu- 
manity is  not  advancing ;  that  temperance  work  acts 
and  re-acts,  and  that  these  superstitions  are  not 
fading  away.  To  set  at  rest  forever  these  croaking 
moralists,  who,  having  chronic  dyspepsia,  think  it  is 
religion,  and  seeing  the  whole  world  from  the 
observatory  of  their  diseased  stomachs,  proclaim  it 
is  going  to  the  bad,  it  may  be  best  for  us  to  contrast 
the  past  with  the  present. 

The  idea  that  universal  benefit  was  derived  from 
the  sale  and  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquor  was  held  in 
common  by  nearly  the  whole  people  of  this  country 
£fty  or  sixty  years  ago.  It  was  supposed  to  be 
necessary  when  persons  were  sick,  and  when  they 
were  well;  when  persons  were  sad,  and  when  they 
were  happy ;  it  was  supposed  to  be  necessary  when 


268  ARGUMENTS    ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

persons  were  cold,  and  when  they  were  hot;  when 
they  were  wet,  and  when  they  were  dry.  It  was 
universally  considered  a  panacea  and  cure-all  for 
every  ailment  to  which  human  flesh  was  heir.  To 
doubt  its  being  a  "good  thing  of  God"  was  to  be 
called  a  fanatic,  a  zealot  and  a  fool. 

The  men  who  controlled  the  business  of  this 
country,  who  employed  laborers  on  contracts  and  in 
manufactories,  thought  it  absolutely  necessary  that, 
workmen  should  use  alcoholic  stimulants  to  enable 
them  to  stand  the  physical  strain  and  do  a  good  day's 
work.  Farmers  held  the  same  belief.  There  could 
not  be  a  logging,  raising  or  threshing  bee  without 
the  jug. 

Said  an  old  lady  to  me,  "  Nobody  ever  tells  about 
the  quilting,  but  when  we  had 'our  quiltings  in  the 
afternoon  we  always  set  the  milk  punch  up  for  our 
husbands  when  they  came  in  the  evening." 

Take,  for  example,  the  digging  of  the  Erie  canal 
across  the  state  of  New  York.  When  that  canal 
was  dug,  a  boy,  known  by  the  cognomen  or  title  of 
"  grog-boy,"  was  employed  on  every  sub- section. 
On  the  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  canal  he  was  known 
as  "jigger-boy."  What  was  his  business?  To  take 
liquor,  bought  by  the  contractors,  and  carry  it  out 
to  the  laborers.  The  idea  was  held,  that  all  men 
required  liquor,  and  that  no  man  could  do  a  good 
day's  work  without  stimulants.  This  idea  was  so 
thoroughly  impressed  upon  all,  that  they  not  only 
hired  men  who  drank,  but  they  bought  the  liquor 
and  hired  a  boy  to  carry  it  to  them. 


SPEECH   BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  269 

Fifty  years  have  passed,  and  what  do  we  see  now  ? 
The  other  day  I  was  writing  to  Samuel  D.  Hastings, 
of  Madison,  Wisconsin,  one  of  the  grandest,  best  and 
truest  men  I  have  ever  known.  He  is  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  affairs  of  his  state,  and  I  asked 
him  to  inform  me  what  rules  were  made  by  the  rail- 
roads of  Wisconsin  in  regard  to  the  use  of  liquor  by 
their  employes.  March  18th  I  received  the  letter  I 
now  hold  in  my  hand,  from  which  I  read  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Among  the  questions  proposed  to  the  railroad  companies  by 
our  railroad  commissioner  are  the  following,  viz. : 

"Has  your  company  any  rule  governing  your  conductors, 
engineers  and  trainmen,  concerning  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors?  If  so,  what  is  it,  and  is  it  enforced?" 

[Answers  from  the  report  of  1877.] 

Answers  are  given  as  follows,  to-wit: 

Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Road — "  It  is  a  rule  of  this  road 
not  to  employ  or  retain  in  service  men  who  make  an  immoderate 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  this  rule  is  enforced.'* 

Chicago  and  Northwestern  Road — "  The  rules  of  this  company 
absolutely  prohibit  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  by  conductors, 
engineers  and  trainmen,  and  they  are  strictly  enforced." 

Chippewa  Falls  and  Western  Road — "Perfect  sobriety  is 
required,,  and  no  liquors  on  the  property." 

Green  Bay  and  Minnesota  Road — "Employes  not  allowed  to 
use  intoxicating  liquors."  , 

Milwaukee,  Lake  Shore  and  Western  Road — "  The  use  of  intoxi- 
cating drinks  on  or  about  the  premises  of  the  company  is  strictly 
prohibited,  and  any  employe  appearing  on  duty  in  a  state  of  intox- 
ication is  forthwith  dismissed;  those  who  totally  abstain  will 
receive  the  preference  in  promotion  and  employment.  These 
rules  are  strictly  enforced."  . 

Wisconsin  Valley  Road—"  Total  abstinence  ?    Yes." 

Answers  from  report  of  1881: 

Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Omaha  Road — "  The  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors  involves  instant  dismissal." 


270  ARGUMENTS    ON   SPECIAL    POINTS. 

Wisconsin  Central  Road — Rule  No.  2  of  our  book  of  instructions 
reads:  "The  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  of  any  kind  by  any 
employe  is  detrimental  to  himself  and  the  interests  of  the  company, 
and  only  those  who  abstain  from  its  use  will  be  employed.  This 
rule  is  rigidly  enforced." 

Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  and  Chippewa  Falls  and  Western. 
Road — "Have  the  same  rule  as  the  Wisconsin  Central;  substan- 
tially the  same  owners." 

Fond  du  Lac,  Amboy  and  Peoria  Road — "  Drunkenness  on  duty 
will  be  considered  sufficient  cause  for  instant  dismissal.  This  is 
enforced." 

And  in  Illinois: 

Wabash,  St.  Louis  and  Pacific  Road — Rule  88:  "  Intoxication  or 
habitual  or  frequent  use  of  intoxicating  liquor  will  be  sufficient 
reason  for  dismissal.  Persons  employed  in  running  trains  in  any 
capacity  who  are  known  to  drink  intoxicating  liquors  will  be  forth- 
with discharged." 

These  rules  are  fair  samples  of  the  rules  of  all  the 
railroads  and  manufactories  of  this  country  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

Fifty  years  ago  a  man  who  employed  laborers 
thought  it'  was  necessary  they  should  drink. 

To-day  the  great  contractors  and  the  business  men 
of  this  country  give  the  preference  to  abstainers, 
and  are  frowning  upon  men  who  use  intoxicating 
liquors. 

I  recently  saw  in  a  newspaper  published  in  this 
state,  an  advertisement  for  a  bar-keeper.  It  was  an 
advertisement  by  a  saloon-keeper  for  help;  the  last 
words  of  the  advertisement  said:  "The  applicant 
must  be  a  total  abstainer.'' 

Suppose  two  young  me»  of  equal  physical  strength, 
mental  force  and  education,  should  contemplate  going 
to  Chicago  to  seek  situations  in  business  houses.  A 


SPEECH   BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  271 

leading  banker  in  that  city  wishes  the  services  of  a 
clerk.  These  young  men  learn  of  the  vacant  clerk- 
ship, and  each  wishes  to  secure  the  position.  They 
know  they  must  obtain  it  upon  the  record  of  their 
past  lives  and  business  qualifications.  What  is  the 
record  of  their  past  lives? 

At  the  commencement  of  his  business  career  one 
of  these  young  men  made  up  his  mind  to  win ;  he 
counted  the  cost  of  success;  looked  out  over  the 
future  before  him  and  realized  that  to  be  successful 
he  must  have  knowledge,  health  and  good  habits. 
Carrying  out  this  idea  he  took  the  money  he  earned 
in  the  store,  bought  books,  and  spent  his  leisure 
hours,  few  though  they  have  been,  in  study;  if  he 
wanted  pleasure  he  sought  it  in  the  society  of  the 
respectable  young  men  and  ladies  of  his  acquaint- 
ance ;  when  the  Sabbath  came  he  went  to  the  Sunday- 
school,  and,  although  considered  old  f  ogyish,  he  was 
known  to  be  an  attendant  at  church. 

The  other  young  man  thought  he  would  have  a 
good  time  in  the  beginning  of  his  business  career 
and  then  catch  up.  He  took  his  money  and  went  to 
the  saloon  to  play  billiards,  drink  beer,  and  have  a 
good  time. 

These  young  men  with  such  records  take  steps  to 
get  the  clerkship.  The  former  goes  to  his  minister 
and  says:  "  Will  you  give  me  a  certificate  of  char- 
acter to  the  gentleman  in  Chicago  ?"  and  the  minis- 
ter writes:  "I  know  this  young  gentleman  to  be 
moral,  honest,  and  truly  worthy.  He  attends  Sun- 


272  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

day-school  regularly,  and  is  a  member  of  my  church ; 
he  is  sober,  temperate,  and  industrious."  To  this 
letter  the  minister  signs  his  name.  The  young  man 
next  goes  to  his  employer  and  says:  "  Will  you  give 
me  a  recommendation  ?"  and  his  employer  gives  him 
a  certificate  to  the  same  general  effect  as  that 
received  from  his  pastor. 

The  other  young  man  goes  to  the  saloon-keeper 
with  whom  he  has  associated,  and  says;  "  I  want  a 
certain  position  in  Chicago;  will  you  give  me  a  cer- 
tificate to  the  banker?"  The  dram-seller  writes: 
"He  is  a  good  fellow,  and  can  play  the  best  game 
of  billiards  of  any  man  in  this  city.  He  can  play 
seven-up  and  win  five  times  out  of  six;  he  can  drink 
more  beer  in  the  same  length  of  time  than  any  other 
man  of  my  acquaintance.  He  is  a  bright,  jolly 
man."  The  young  man  then  goes  to  his  employer 
and  asks  him  for  a  recommendation,  and  receives  a 
certificate  relating  the  same  general  facts. 

Both  young  men  go  to  Chicago,  ask  for  the  banker, 
and  lay  their  recommendations  before  him.  Does  it 
matter  whether  the  president  of  the  bank  drinks 
beer  or  not  ?  Whether  he  is  an  infidel  or  Christian  ? 
Whether  he  is  a  prohibitionist  or  license  man  ?  No 
matter  what  his  personal  views  or  habits  may  be,  he 
will  hire  the  man  who  conies  with  credentials  certi- 
fying to  a  record  of  total  abstinence  and  morality. 

An  acquaintance  of  mine  wanted  a  clerk.  The 
man  was  an  infidel  and  an  habitual  drinker.  A  boy 
said  to  me,  "  Will  you  give  me  a  credential  to 


SPEECH   BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  273 

IMr,  ?"  I  simply  certified  to  the  fact  that  I 

knew  the  youth;  that  he  was  a  good  Christian  boy; 
a  total  abstainer,  a  member  of  the  Good  Templar 
lodge,  and  that  he  was  thoroughly  industrious,  stu- 
dious and  honest.  The  boy  applied  for  the  position. 
I  afterwards  learned  that  some  five  or  six  other  boys 
applied  for  the  same  position.  Some  of  the  boys 
were  reckless  and  fast.  The  boy  I  gave  the  recom- 
mendation got  the  position.  A  few  days  afterward, 
passing  down  the  street,  I  put  my  arm  through  the 
arm  of  the  gentleman  above  alluded  to,  who  had 
employed  the  boy  I  recommended,  and  said: 
"Mr.  -  — ,  tell  me  why  you  hired  that  boy;  he  was  a 
total  abstainer  and  a  Christian,  and  the  other  boys 
who  applied  for  the  position  could  drink  beer,  play 
cards,  and  disregard  the  Sabbath,  which  you  approve. 
Why  did  you  hire  the  total  abstainer?" 

"  Oh,"  said  he,  "such  principles  are  good  to  have 
around  a  counting-room." 

Go  where  you  will  up  and  down  this  nation  to-day, 
the  temperance  work  is  rolling  humanity  steadily 
upward.  The  business  man  recognizes  this  truth, 
that  the  man  who  drinks  liquor  is  injured  intellect- 
ually, physically  and  morally  by  such  use. 

This  is  one  line  of  advance.     Look  at  another. 

The  .Kev.  J.  B.  Dunn,  the  celebrated  author  of 
the  "History  of  Temperance,"  visited  Hartford, 
Conn.,  and  he  gives  a  bill  presented  to  and  paid  by 
one  of  the  oldest  churches  of  that  city.  It  was 
•during  the  year  1784 — less  than  a  hundred  years 


274  ARGUMENTS    ON   SPECIAL    POINTS. 

ago.  There  had  been  an  assembly  of  ministers  ta 
ordain  a  young  aspirant  for  ministerial  honors.  The 
church  had  sent  the  visiting  clergy  to  the  inn  at 
Hartford  to  be  entertained,  telling  the  innkeeper  to 
present  the  bills  to  the  church  for  payment.  This 
bill  was  a  copy  of  the  original  bill  presented  by  the 
innkeeper  to  the  church  for  the  expenses  of  the 
ministers,  and  is  as  follows: 

The  South  Society  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  paid  the  following  bill 

for   the  entertainment  of  the  ministers   at  the   ordination  of  a 

pastor: 

May  4, 1784— To  keeping  ministers—  L.    s.  d. 

2  mugs  tody 0     2    4 

5  segars 0    5  10 

1  pint  wine 0    3    0 

May  5— 

To  3  bitters 0    0    9 

To  three  breakfasts 0    3    6 

To  15  boles  punch 1  10    0 

To  24  dinners 1  16    0 

To  11  bottles  of  wine 3    6    1 

To  5  mugs  flip 0    5  10 

To  3  boles  punch 0    6    0 

To  3  boles  tody 0    3     6 

Total -£7  11     9 

The  ministers'  toddy  and  wine  cost  the  church  a 
little  over  twenty  dollars  for  three  days,  and  there 
were  only  thirteen  ministers  entertained,  and  liquors 
were  far  cheaper  in  those  days  than  now.  What 
would  be  thought  of  such  a  bill  presented  to  a 
church  in  Illinois  to-day  and  paid  by  them  without 
complaint? 

Four  years  since,  speaking  in  Lodi,  Wis.,  to  the 


SPEECH    BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  275 

Order  of  Good  Templars,,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
meeting  an  old  gentleman  came  up  to  me  and  said, 
"I  want  to  tell  you  something.     I  am  a  superannu- 
ated Baptist  minister."     I  learned  afterward  that  he 
was  one  of  the  most  loved  and  honored  men  of  that 
denomination  in  the  state.     "I  commenced  preach  - 
ing  in  Ilion,  New  York.     While  preaching  there  a 
young  brother  was  to  be  ordained  in  Ogdensburg,  in 
the  northern  part  of  the 'state.     There  were  no  rail- 
roads then.     I  was  to  go  up  the  Mohawk  river  to 
Rome,  then  up  the  Black  river ;  another  brother  was 
to  come  from  Oswego,  another  from  Canada,  and, 
another   from   Plattsburg.     We  met   on   a  certain 
day,  held  a  meeting  in  the  afternoon  and  another 
in  .the   evening.     At   night  I   was   to   sleep   with 
the  brother  from  Qswego.     After  we  went  to  our 
room,  I  opened  my  satchel  to  get  my  Bible,  but 
found  that  I  had  left  it  at  the  church.     My  com- 
panion  said,    'Have   my   Bible,'   and    opened    his 
satchel  to  get  it.     Under  it  were  four  or  five  bottles 
of  whisky.     You  ask  me  what  he  had  it  for;  if  he 
had  it  to  drink,  and  whether  he  offered  it  to  me. 
No,  he  did  not  ask  me  to  drink  with  him,  nor  offer 
to  drink  any  of  it  himself.     I  will  tell  you  how  he 
came  to  have  it  in  his  possession.     His  son  run  a 
distillery,  and  as  the  father  was  to  preach  on  this 
long  trip  through  Canada  and  northern  New  York, 
he  had  taken  these  little  bottles  along  as  samples, 
to  act  as  a  commercial  agent  for  the  distillery  on 
the  trip,  preaching  and  selling  whisky."     The  idea 
was  so  ridiculous  that  I  laughed  heartily. 


:276  ARGUMENTS   ON   SPECIAL   POINTS. 

A  few  weeks  later  I  stood  before  an  immense 
audience  in  northern  New  York,  and  related  the 
story  near  where  the  incident  was  said  to  have 
occurred.  After  the  meeting  was  over  a  man  came 
to  me  and  said,  "  What  were  you  pitching  into  me 
for?"  I  said  to  him,  "I  do  not  know  you."  Said 
he,  "I  am  the  man  who  peddled  the  whisky."  Then 
he  introduced  himself.  We  sat  down  together,  and 
for  more  than  an  hour  I  was  entertained  by  the 
reminiscences  of  that  old  man,  as  he  told  me  of  the 
customs  and  practices  of  his  early  ministry.  In 
that  day  ministers,  deacons,  class-leaders  and  church 
members  drank  — in  short,  the  drinking  customs 
were  almost  universal. 

In  1835,  a  large  distillery  was  run  at  Salem, 
Mass.,  by  an  old  deacon.  Eev.  George  B.  Cheever, 
X).  D.,  passed  along  the  road  and  saw  the  sign, 
"  Corn  wanted  to  make  liquor  of,"  and  next  door  the 
sign,  "Bibles  to  sell."  This  suggested  his  cele- 
brated cartoon,  in  which  he  pictured  devils  as  run- 
ning the  distillery,  and  called  it  Deacon  Giles' 
Distillery.  The  coat  fitted,  and  Cheever  was 
arrested,  tried  by  a  Christian  jury,  convicted  of 
malicious  libel  and  sent  to  jail.  A  close  examination 
of  the  case  convinces  me  that  the  verdict  was  based 
upon  Dr.  Cheever' s  statements  against  the  Christian 
character  of  the  distilling  deacon.  In  that  day  we 
find  ministers,  church  officials  and  Christians  not 
only  using,  but  selling  and  manufacturing  intoxi- 
cating drinks.  The  public  did  not  look  upon  these 


SPEECH    BY    JOHN   B.    FINCH.  27T 

acts  as  degrading  the  Christian  character,  nor  incon- 
sistent with  a  Christian  life.  To-day  the  ministers 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  the  corner-stone  of 
our  whole  reform  work.  Other  brigades,  and  other 
corps,  and  other  armies  are  in  the  fight,  but  the 
whole  center  of  the  movement  rests  on  the  Chris- 
tian wings.  I  have  never  yet  in  the  bitterest  strife 
called  upon  a  minister  in  Nebraska  for  assistance  and 
been  refused.  As  I  go  up  and  down  through  the 
state  of  Nebraska  I  do  not  ask  the  question,  "Is 
such  a  minister  a  temperance  man?"  I  know  he 
is.  I  know  he  could  not  preach  in  our  state  if 
he  was  not.  Even  the  denominations  there,  which 
in  the  east  are  negative  in  the  movement,  are  quite 
positive  and  aggressive  in  the  west.  An  individual 
who  spoke  in  this  state  only  a  few  weeks  ago  in 
favor  of  saloons,  was  told  by  the  Episcopal  church, 
his  church,  that  his  resignation  would  be  accepted, 
and  he  be  given  an  opportunity  to  step  down  and 
out,  which  he  did. 

Look  at  another  line  of  advance.  Fifty  or  sixty 
years  ago  the  sale  of  liquor  was  open,  and  as  com- 
mon as  the  sale  of  tea,  coffee,  dry  goods  and  gro- 
ceries. It  was  piled  up  in  every  grocery  store,  and 
men  who  sold  dry  goods  said  they  must  have  liquor 
to  treat  their  customers.  It  was  not  regarded  as  a 
disreputable  business.  It  was  not  deemed  necessary 
to  screen  the  door  of  the  grocery  where  it  was  to  be 
found,  from  the  observation  of  the  general  public, 
and  the  business  of  selling  was  not  regarded  as  of  so 


278  ARGUMENTS    ON    SPECIAL   POINTS. 

injurious  and  deadly  a  nature  that  men  must  petition 
the  city  authorities  to  be  permitted  to  engage  in  its 
sale. 

Look  at  it  now.  In  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Ver- 
mont and  Kansas  the  whole  business  is  outlawed. 
While  in  license  states  like  Nebraska  everybody 
knows  it  is  looked  upon  as  disreputable  to  patronize 
a  drunkard-factory,  and  that  he  who  engages  in  the 
sale  is  regarded  as  a  bad  man.  To-day,  in  my 
state  the  very  fact  that  a  man  wants  to  sell  liquor 
is  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  prima  facie  evidence  that 
he  is  a  scoundrel. 

A  man  may  come  to  Nebraska  to-morrow  and  wish 
to  take  out  a  license  to  sell  liquor.  If  he  goes  to 
the  city  council  and  asks  for  a  license,  the  very  fact 
that  he  applies  for  such  a  license  is  deemed  prima 
jacie  evidence  that  he  is  disreputable,  dishonest, 
and,  before  the  council  can  grant  it,  he  must  get 
thirty  freeholders,  residents  of  the  ward  wherein  the 
saloon  is  to  be  located,  to  certify  he  is  moral  and 
•decent  and  respectable;  he  must  get  a  character 
made  to  order  as  you  men  get  a  coat,  and  then,  when 
lie  gets  his  character  made  (I  suppose  our  green- 
back friends  would  call  it  a  fiat  character),  the  law 
believes  every  man  who  signed  the  petition  lied,  and 
says,  despite  the  fact  that  the  would-be  drunkard- 
maker  has  their  certificates,  he  must  give  a  bond  of 
£ve  thousand  dollars,  signed  by  three  good  sureties, 
to  indemnify  the  people  for  the  evil  his  business 
mil  create.  No  man  is  now  bold  enough  to  stand 


SPEECH    BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  279 

up  and  defend  the  business  upon  its  merits.  The 
drunkardmakers  themselves  favor  "judicious  license 
laws."  No  man  dare  advocate  taking  the  chains  off 
this  old  curse  and  letting  it  go  free. 

Look  at  another  line  of  advance.  There  was  a 
time  in  the  history  of  this  reform  when  everywhere, 
In  almost  'every  house  in  the  land,  people  expected 
to  find  wine  or  some  kind  of  liquor  on  the  table  or 
on  the  sideboard.  It  was  deemed  useful  and  hos- 
pitable, and  necessary  on  all  occasions. 

Now,  the  custom  of  turning  the  parlor  into  a  bar- 
room and  using  a  beautiful  daughter  as  a  bar-tender 
to  manufacture  drunkards,  who  will  afterwards  curse 
the  fair  hands  that  tempted  them  to  take  the  first 
glass,  is  rapidly  becoming  obsolete  everywhere. 

These,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  are  a  few  of  the 
changes  made  by  persistent  work  to  educate  the 
masses  and  lift  mankind  out  of  the  fog  of  ignorance 
into  the  sunlight  of  knowledge  and  scientific  truth. 
The  struggle  has  been  severe,  but  no  cause  ever  had 
grander  heroes. 

Years  ago,  when  Dr.  Hunt,  who  led  the  reform  in 
the  east,  went  to  the  platform,  the  common  argu- 
ment of  the  drunkard-makers  was  rotten  eggs.  At 
one  time  when  eggs  were  thrown  at  him,  he  stopped 
in  his  speech  and  said:  "  Gentlemen,  let  them 
come;  your  arguments  are  just  like  your  business." 

I  look  back  over  the  band  of  workers  and  wish  I 
could  mention  them  all, — grand  men  and  women 
who  have  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  contest. 


280  ARGUMENTS    ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

What  cause  was  ever  supported  by  clearer  heads  and 
warmer  hearts  ? 

Fifty  years  ago,  the  business  world  furnished 
liquor  to  its  help ;  to-day  it  makes  abstinence  a  rule 
for  workmen. 

Fifty  years  ago,  the  church  by  its  example  and 
influence  sustained  the  drink  customs  and  traffic; 
to-day  the  church  is  fighting  the  traffic  to  death. 

Fifty  years  ago,  the  business  was  respectable; 
to-day  it  is  either  outlawed  or  a  criminal  bound  with 
chains. 

Fifty  years  ago,  it  was  fashionable  to  furnish  wine 
to  guests;  to-day  it  is  vulgar  and  low  to  do  so. 

Yes,  the  reform  is  advancing,  but  while  we  point 
to  the  upward  march  of  mankind  we  would  not  have 
you  forget  that  all  along  the  pathway  of  these  years 
there  are  other  sheaves  these  temperance  toilers 
have  garnered;  graves  of  men  whose  redeemed 
spirits,  now  in  heaven,  look  back  to  rejoice  that  this 
movement  came  to  save. 

Let  me  give  you  an  instance:  I  addressed  an 
audience  in  a  western  city  some  years  ago.  At  the 
close  of  the  meeting  an  old  man  came  up;  he  was 
muddy,  dirty,  drunk ;  he  reached  up  his  hand  and 
turned  his  face  toward  me;  it  was  swollen  and  red 
from  the  effects  of  alcohol;  his  eyes  were  bleared 
and  watery  and  his  tongue  was  thick,  from  his  recent 
indulgence ;  he  was  a  wretched,  terrible  specimen  of 
what  liquor  does  for  men.  He  said:  "  S-a-a-y,  Mis- 
ser, —  hie  —  am — hie — go — go — in  to  er — hie — sign 


SPEECH    BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  281 

— hie — that  are  p-pledge — hie — an — I  am — hie — a 
goi'n  to — hie — keep  it,  or  I  am — hie — go-in  to  bust" 

As  I  looked  at  him,  poor,  besotted  wretch,  with 
just  the  faintest  ray  of  his  once  glorious  manhood 
glinting  out,  in  his  determination  to  sign  the  pledge 
and  make  one  more  effort  for  the  restoration  of  his 
former  proud  position  among  his  fellowmen,  I  pitied 
him.  I  saw  the  condition  he  was  in,  with  native 
pride  almost  gone,  with  stomach  almost  consumed 
by  drink,  with  feebleness  in  every  part  of  his  phys- 
ical organization;  I  took  his  hand  and  told  him  I 
hoped  he  would  keep  the  pledge;  that  God  would 
give  him  strength  to  stand.  He  signed  the  pledge 
and  Went  away.  I  called  the  attention  of  some  of 
our  Good  Templar  friends  to  him.  I  went  from  that 
place  and  it  was  more  than  a  year  before  I  returned. 
The  first  night  after  my  return  I  was  speaking  again. 
At  the  close  of  the  meeting  an  old  lady  came  to  me 
and  said: 

"  I  want  to  shake  hands  with  you."  After  shaking 
hands  she  said,  "I  want  to  ask  you  if  you  will  come 
over  and  take  tea  with  us  to-morrow?" 

"  Yes,  I  guess  so,"  I  replied. 

She  went  away.  I  did  not  recognize  her.  Turn- 
ing to  a  minister,  who  stood  by,  I  asked: 

"  Who  was  that?" 

"Why,"  said  he,  "you  remember  that  old  bum- 
mer who  signed  the  pledge  when  you  were  here  last 
year?" 

"Yes,"  I  answered,  "did he  keep  it?" 

19 


282  ARGUMENTS    ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

"Yes,  he  did,"  replied  the  minister;  "that  is  his 
wife;  he  is  a  member  of  my  church." 

The  next  day  I  went  to  their  home.  The  man 
and  his  wife  were  both  there,  and  greeted  me  most 
cordially.  Then  the  husband  started  to  go  down 
town.  I  received  the  impression  that  he  went  after 
something  to  put  on  the  table.  After  he  had  gone 
the  wife  said  to  me:  "I  wanted  you  to  come  here  so 
T  could  tell  you,  to  cheer  and  encourage  you  and  the 
•Good  Templars  in  this  city,  how  much  you  have  done 
ior  me  and  mine,  and  to  bid  you  Godspeed  in  your 
work;"  and  then  she  went  on  and  told  the  old,  old 
story  that  every  man  who  has  ever  worked  in  this 
reform  has  heard  so  often,  of  a  happy  courtship  and 
marriage,  of  the  sunlight  of  life  and  the  rainbow  of 
promise  that  followed,  of  how  happy  she  was  as  a 
wife,  busied  with  her  household  cares,  and  of  how 
bright  the  pathway  of  life  had  seemed  to  her ;  of  the 
gentle  voice  of  gratefulness,  of  peace  and  plenty 
that  day  after  day  sung  sweetly  in  her  heart ;  of  her 
liusband,  the  best  and  bravest  and  noblest  of  men, 
of  his  manly  endeavor  in  the  battle  of  life  to  shield 
and  protect  her  from  every  discomfort  and  hardship ; 
of  the  time  that  came  at  last  after  they  had  been 
married  a  number  of  years  and  gone  along  the  road 
bright  with  flowers  and  redolent  with  the  pleasantest 
memories,  when  the  husband  had  been  enticed  into 
a  saloon  and  persuaded  to  drink  his  first  glass ;  of 
how  he  fell  into  the  horrible  pit  of  drunkenness,  and 
.of  how  she,  poor,  dazed  wife,  thinking  she  might 


SPEECH    BY    JOHN   B.    FINCH.  283 

reclaim  him,  and  hardly  realizing  that  this  loath- 
some serpent  had  stolen  into  her  paradise  and  robbed 
it  of  its  purity  and  happiness,  had  followed  meekly, 
pleading,  praying,  hoping  and  working ;  but  said  she, 
"  Hope  failed,  my  pleadings  availed  naught,  and  my 
prayers  seemed  to  rise  no  higher  than  my  head. 
Oh,  Mr.  Finch,  human  heaut  cannot  imagine  what  a 
sorrow,  what  a  grief,  what  a  bitterness  of  soul  was 
mine.  For  five  years,  five  years  of  a  hell  upon  earth, 
he  drank  incessantly;  every  nickel  that  he  earned 
went  to  the  saloon  for  drink,  and  he  did  not  provide 
a  thing.  Having  nothing,  I  took  in  washing,  which 
I  continued  to  do  until  rheumatism  came  and  my 
hands  twisted  out  of  shape.  At  last  I  could  not 
work  more,  and  then  the  poorhouse  door  stood  open 
to  me.  Maybe  you  think  I  was  wicked,  but,  Mr. 
Finch,  I  have  gone  to  bed  at  night  and  prayed  God 
that  I  might  never  wake  up  in  the  morning.  I  had 
tried  to  do  my  duty,  at  least  to  be  respectable,  and 
the  idea  of  dying  a  pauper  in  the  poorhouse  was 
enough  to  drive  me  mad.  Kind  women,  God  bless 
them,  watched  with  and  looked  after  me  while  I  was 
sick,  and  right  at  that  critical  time  John  signed  the 
pledge.  He  came  home  from  the  meeting,  and, 
although  he  knew  it  would  make  my  heart  glad,  he 
took  the  ribbon  off,  afraid  I  would  see  it.  He  went 
directly  to  bed,  and  the  next  morning  got  up  before 
I  did ;  usually  he  did  this,  and  went  down  town  to 
get  his  drink,  but  I  heard  him  building  the  fire.  I 
couldn't  think  what  it  was ;  then  I  heard  him  go  out 


284  ARGUMENTS    ON    SPECIAL    POINTS. 

and  come  in,  and  knew  he  was  filling  the  tea-kettle, 
and  I  listened,  hoping  that  some  impression  had 
been  made  upon  him,  and  it  did  seem  as  though  one 
little  ray  of  sunshine  was  coming  into  my  poor  Ufa 
At  last  he  said  to  me, 

" '  Mary,  where  is  the  hammer  ? ' 

"I  asked  him  why  he^wanted  the  hammer. 

"  *I  want  to  fix  these  steps  out  here/ 

"  The  doorsteps  had  been  broken  for  a  long  time; 
he  had  tumbled  over  them,  drunk,  many  a  time  and 
never  thought  of  fixing  them.  As  soon  as  he  wanted 
to  fix  the  steps  it  flashed  across  my  mind  what  he 
had  done,  and  I  asked,  '  John,  have  you  signed  the 
pledge?'  and  he  said,  'Yes,  Mary,  and  with  God 
helping  me,  as  they  say  down  to  the  meeting,  I  am 
going  to  keep  it.'  Perhaps  I  am  getting  into  my 
dotage,  but  my  heart  sung  with  a  joy  that  called  up 
my  happy  days  again,  and  I  put  my  arms  around 
his  neck  and  kissed  him  for  the  first  time  in  years. 
If  the  Good  Templars  of  this  town  never  do  another 
thing  than  to  give  me  back  my  old  lover,  to  stand  up 
to  my  shoulder  pure  and  strong  in  his  reformed  and 
renewed  life,  to  love  me  and  appreciate  my  love  for 
him,  I  will  thank  them  all  my  days,  and  forever  call 
them  blessed." 

This  is  but  one  of  thousands  of  cases.  Hardly  a 
Good  Templar  lodge  but  has  its  saved  men  snatched 
from  the  downward  road. 

To-night  I  have  spoken  of  some  of  the  work  that 
has  been  done.  I  want  to  ask  you  to  observe  closely 


SPEECH   BY   JOHN   B.    FINCH.  285 

fairly  the  theories  and  the  reasons  and  the  be- 
liefs held  by  the  temperance  men  of  this  country. 
My  only  hope  is  that  I  have  said  something — that 
God  will  give  me  the  power  to  say  it — that  shall  lead 
men  to  think  and  act  and  work  This  reform  is 
greater  than  any  man  or  organization  of  men.  The 
men  who  stand  on  the  platform  are  simply  aids. 
Every  worker  has  a  task  to  do  and  all  our  labors  are 
essential  to  accomplish  the  task  before  us.  Let  us 
stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  places  that  are 
ready  and  open  for  us,  and  press  forward  side  by 
side  on  the  battle-fields  of  this  reform,  firm  and 
unwavering  in  the  faith  that  God  will  give  victory 
io  the  right,  and  truth  and  purity  shall  triumph 
over  vice  and  error. 


VNIVERoll       9 
or 


The  People  versus  The  Lipor  Traffic, 


WHAT  THE  PRESS  AND  WORKERS  SAY  OF  IT  : 

"  I  believe  it  to  be  the  best  compilation  of  facts  and  argument  in  favor  of 
our  reform  and  against  the  liquor  traffic  ever  printed.  The  best,  because  it  is 
in  the  vernacular  of  the  masses,  and  thoroughly  practical.  Clear,  simple,  con- 
vincing."— Theo.  D.  Kanouse,  P.  R.  W.  G.  T. 


"  The  beginning  of  a  fine  temperance  library  has  just  been  made  by  the 
Good  Templars  in  the  publication  of  the  volume,  '  THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE 
LIQUOR  TRAFFIC,'  consisting  of  lectures  by  John  B.  Finch,  Hon.  Albert  H. 
Horton,  and  Hon.  O.  P.  Mason,  already  somewhat  familiar  by  their  appearance 
in  several  weekly  temperance  journals.  Those  who  have  read  the  lectures  do 
not  need  to  be  informed  of  their  clear  statements  of  fact,  sound  logic  and  earn- 
est appeals  to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  people.  To  all  who  have  not  had  this 
pleasure  and  advantage,  we  say,  buy  the  book  at  once.  It  will  fill  your  mouth 
with  arguments,  and  store  your  mind  with  facts.  It  is  a  rare  investment  for 
temperance  men  and  women  seeking  clear  presentation  of  the  truth,  and  it  is  a 
'  bonanza  '  to  the  unenlightened — a  good  gift  book  for  missionary  work." — The- 
Union-Signal,  Organ  N.  W.  C.  T.  U. 


"  '  THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC,'  by  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Has- 
tings, is  the  first  volume  of  a  proposed  series  of  books  which  are  likely  to  have 
many  readers.  It  comprises  nine  lectures,  seven  of  which  are  by  Hon.  John 
B.  Finch,  one  by  Hon.  Oliver  P.  Mason,  of  Nebraska,  and  one  by  Hon.  Albert 
Horton,  Chief  Justice  of  Kaneas.  The  lectures  of  Mr.  Finch  have  attracted 
large,  enthusiastic  and  appreciative  audiences,  and  will  be  read  with  almost 
equal  delight.  He  follows  the  advocates  and  apologists  of  the  liquor  traffic 
through  all  their  windings,  and  exposes  their  sophistries  in  a  racy  and  enter- 
taining style.  The  book  is  timely,  now  that  the  subject  of  prohibition  is  under 
discussion  in  many  States  with  renewed  urgency." — The  Northwestern  Christian 
Advocate. 


"  '  THE  PEOPLE  VERSUS  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  '  is,  without  doubt,  the  most 
valuable  contribution  yet  made  to  the  temperance  literature  of  the  time.  The 
book  contains  nine  lectures,  seven  by  Hon.  John  B.  Finch,  of  Nebraska,  one  by 
Hon.  Albert  Horton,  Chief  Justice  of  Kansas,  and  one  by  Hon.  Oliver  P.  Mason, 
ex-Chief  Justice  of  Nebraska.  These  lectures  are  among  the  very  best  ever 
delivered  on  the  American  platform.  They  are  clear  in  their  statements  of 
fundamental  truths  and  principles,  elegant  in  diction,  convincing  in  logic,  and 
abound  in  simple  yet  forcible  illustrations.  Unlike  many  lectures,  they  read 
well  because  they  are  clothed  in  the  language  of  the  common  people.  As  you 
read  them  you  laugh  through  your  tears,  and  with  clenched  fists  and  teeth 
firmly  eet,  vow  a  vow  of  eternal  vengeance  upon  the  traffic  which  floods  this 
world  with  so  much  of  misery  and  crime." — The  Lever- Liberator,  Chicago,  III. 


The  Youth's 


THE     BRIGHTEST,   NEATEST    AND    MOST     BEAUTIFUL 

CHILDREN'S    PAPER    PUBLISHED    IN   AMERICA. 

IT  SHOULD  BE  IN 

EYERY  HOME,  and  every  MBBATH  SglOOL. 


TERMS  IN  ADVANCE,  INCLUDING  POSTAGE. 
MONTHLY: 

Single  Copy,  One  Year 25o. 

4  Copies,  or  over,  each,  One  Year 12c. 

SEMI-MONTHLY: 

Single  Copy,  One  Year 40c. 

4  Copies  and  upward,  each,  One  Year '. 2Cc. 

WEEKLY. 

Single  Copy,  52  numbers ....75c. 

4  Copies  and  upward,  each,  62  numbers 50c. 


ADDRESS 

J.   N.  STEARNS,   Publishing  Agent, 
88  Reade  Street, 

NEW  YORK. 


Those  readers  who  desire  to  investigate  prohibition  further  will  do  well  to 
procure  of  the  above  publisher  some  of  the  valuable  works  of  the  National 
Temperance  Society  and  Publication  House.  He  publishes  over  300  documents 
bearing  on  every  phase  of  the  reform. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL     FINE     OF    25      CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


LD  21-50m-8,'89 


VB 


